Frequency band allocation for transmission based on paging

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for frequency band allocation for transmission based on a paging in a wireless communication system is provided. A wireless device receives, from a network, system information including a list of physical resource blocks (PRBs). While in an idle state and/or an inactive state, the wireless device monitors a paging including information indicating at least one PRB from the list of the PRBs, and communicates with the network based on the at least one PRB.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to frequency band allocation fortransmission based on a paging.

BACKGROUND

3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE) is atechnology for enabling high-speed packet communications. Many schemeshave been proposed for the LTE objective including those that aim toreduce user and provider costs, improve service quality, and expand andimprove coverage and system capacity. The 3GPP LTE requires reduced costper bit, increased service availability, flexible use of a frequencyband, a simple structure, an open interface, and adequate powerconsumption of a terminal as an upper-level requirement.

Work has started in international telecommunication union (ITU) and 3GPPto develop requirements and specifications for new radio (NR) systems.3GPP has to identify and develop the technology components needed forsuccessfully standardizing the new RAT timely satisfying both the urgentmarket needs, and the more long-term requirements set forth by the ITUradio communication sector (ITU-R) international mobiletelecommunications (IMT)-2020 process. Further, the NR should be able touse any spectrum band ranging at least up to 100 GHz that may be madeavailable for wireless communications even in a more distant future.

The NR targets a single technical framework addressing all usagescenarios, requirements and deployment scenarios including enhancedmobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type-communications (mMTC),ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC), etc. The NR shallbe inherently forward compatible.

To meet the more stringent requirements of future 5G use cases, it willsoon be necessary to reduce UL latency even further. Early datatransmission (EDT) is a feature that would allow opportunistic datatransmission to commence during the connection resume procedure. EDT hasalready been introduced in LTE machine-type communication (LTE-M) andnarrowband internet-of-things (NB-IoT), where traffic is expected tocomprise the transmission of small amounts of data and one of theprimary objectives is long user equipment (UE) battery life. For usecases where traffic consists of only one uplink (UL) and/or one downlink(DL) data packet, EDT improves energy efficiency by enabling the networkto release the UE to the inactive state without the need forintermediate resume and resume complete messages.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a method and apparatusfor DL frequency band allocation for DL transmission based on a paging.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a method andapparatus for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) allocation basedon a paging.

In an aspect, a method for a wireless device in a wireless communicationsystem is provided. The method includes receiving, from a network,system information including a list of physical resource blocks (PRBs).The method further includes, while in an idle state and/or an inactivestate, monitoring a paging including information indicating at least onePRB from the list of the PRBs, and communicating with the network basedon the at least one PRB.

In another aspect, an apparatus for implementing the above method isprovided.

The present disclosure can have various advantageous effects.

For example, data transmission can be performed efficiently while the UEis in an idle state (e.g., RRC_IDLE) and/or an inactive state (e.g.,RRC_INACTIVE).

For example, one UE performing DL data reception by using paging canproperly determine a frequency band where DL data is transmitted, inparticular when a cell consists of multiple DL frequency bands.

For example, the system can transmit DL data for a UE performing DL datareception based on paging from a DL frequency band after leavingconnected state, e.g., in an idle mode and/or an inactive state.

For example, one UE performing DL data reception by using paging canproperly send feedback on UL resource to reception of DL data, inparticular when connection between the UE and the network isdisconnected and/or suspended.

For example, the system can properly determine whether or not to performretransmission of DL data for a UE performing DL data reception based onpaging after leaving connected mode, e.g., in an idle mode and/or aninactive state.

Advantageous effects which can be obtained through specific embodimentsof the present disclosure are not limited to the advantageous effectslisted above. For example, there may be a variety of technical effectsthat a person having ordinary skill in the related art can understandand/or derive from the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specificeffects of the present disclosure are not limited to those explicitlydescribed herein, but may include various effects that may be understoodor derived from the technical features of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations ofthe present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a wireless device to which implementations ofthe present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 4 shows another example of wireless devices to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 5 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the presentdisclosure is applied.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP basedwireless communication system to which implementations of the presentdisclosure is applied.

FIG. 8 shows a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communicationsystem to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 9 shows a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 10 shows an example of PDSCH time domain resource allocation byPDCCH to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 11 shows an example of PUSCH time resource allocation by PDCCH towhich implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 12 shows an example of physical layer processing at a transmittingside to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 13 shows an example of physical layer processing at a receivingside to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a method for a wireless device to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 15 shows an example of a method for performing data transmissionfor a UE in RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE to which implementations of thepresent disclosure is applied.

FIG. 16 shows another example of a method for performing datatransmission for a UE in RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 17 shows an example of downlink data transmissions for a UE inRRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE to which implementations of the presentdisclosure is applied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to avariety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multipleaccess systems include a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, afrequency division multiple access (FDMA) system, a time divisionmultiple access (TDMA) system, an orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA) system, a single carrier frequency division multipleaccess (SC-FDMA) system, and a multicarrier frequency division multipleaccess (MC-FDMA) system. CDMA may be embodied through radio technologysuch as universal terrestrial radio access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA maybe embodied through radio technology such as global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), or enhanceddata rates for GSM evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be embodied through radiotechnology such as institute of electrical and electronics engineers(IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or evolved UTRA(E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a universal mobile telecommunications system(UMTS). 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution(LTE) is a part of evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employsOFDMA in DL and SC-FDMA in UL. LTE-advanced (LTE-A) is an evolvedversion of 3GPP LTE.

For convenience of description, implementations of the presentdisclosure are mainly described in regards to a 3GPP based wirelesscommunication system. However, the technical features of the presentdisclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the followingdetailed description is given based on a mobile communication systemcorresponding to a 3GPP based wireless communication system, aspects ofthe present disclosure that are not limited to 3GPP based wirelesscommunication system are applicable to other mobile communicationsystems.

For terms and technologies which are not specifically described amongthe terms of and technologies employed in the present disclosure, thewireless communication standard documents published before the presentdisclosure may be referenced.

In the present disclosure, “A or B” may mean “only A”, “only B”, or“both A and B”. In other words, “A or B” in the present disclosure maybe interpreted as “A and/or B”. For example, “A, B or C” in the presentdisclosure may mean “only A”, “only B”, “only C”, or “any combination ofA, B and C”.

In the present disclosure, slash (/) or comma (,) may mean “and/or”. Forexample, “A/B” may mean “A and/or B”. Accordingly, “A/B” may mean “onlyA”, “only B”, or “both A and B”. For example, “A, B, C” may mean “A, Bor C”.

In the present disclosure, “at least one of A and B” may mean “only A”,“only B” or “both A and B”. In addition, the expression “at least one ofA or B” or “at least one of A and/or B” in the present disclosure may beinterpreted as same as “at least one of A and B”.

In addition, in the present disclosure, “at least one of A, B and C” maymean “only A”, “only B”, “only C”, or “any combination of A, B and C”.In addition, “at least one of A, B or C” or “at least one of A, B and/orC” may mean “at least one of A, B and C”.

Also, parentheses used in the present disclosure may mean “for example”.In detail, when it is shown as “control information (PDCCH)”, “PDCCH”may be proposed as an example of “control information”. In other words,“control information” in the present disclosure is not limited to“PDCCH”, and “PDDCH” may be proposed as an example of “controlinformation”. In addition, even when shown as “control information(i.e., PDCCH)”, “PDCCH” may be proposed as an example of “controlinformation”.

Technical features that are separately described in one drawing in thepresent disclosure may be implemented separately or simultaneously.

Although not limited thereto, various descriptions, functions,procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts of thepresent disclosure disclosed herein can be applied to various fieldsrequiring wireless communication and/or connection (e.g., 5G) betweendevices.

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in more detailwith reference to drawings. The same reference numerals in the followingdrawings and/or descriptions may refer to the same and/or correspondinghardware blocks, software blocks, and/or functional blocks unlessotherwise indicated.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

The 5G usage scenarios shown in FIG. 1 are only exemplary, and thetechnical features of the present disclosure can be applied to other 5Gusage scenarios which are not shown in FIG. 1.

Three main requirement categories for 5G include (1) a category ofenhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), (2) a category of massive machine typecommunication (mMTC), and (3) a category of ultra-reliable and lowlatency communications (URLLC).

Partial use cases may require a plurality of categories for optimizationand other use cases may focus only upon one key performance indicator(KPI). 5G supports such various use cases using a flexible and reliablemethod.

eMBB far surpasses basic mobile Internet access and covers abundantbidirectional work and media and entertainment applications in cloud andaugmented reality. Data is one of 5G core motive forces and, in a 5Gera, a dedicated voice service may not be provided for the first time.In 5G, it is expected that voice will be simply processed as anapplication program using data connection provided by a communicationsystem. Main causes for increased traffic volume are due to an increasein the size of content and an increase in the number of applicationsrequiring high data transmission rate. A streaming service (of audio andvideo), conversational video, and mobile Internet access will be morewidely used as more devices are connected to the Internet. These manyapplication programs require connectivity of an always turned-on statein order to push real-time information and alarm for users. Cloudstorage and applications are rapidly increasing in a mobilecommunication platform and may be applied to both work andentertainment. The cloud storage is a special use case which acceleratesgrowth of uplink data transmission rate. 5G is also used for remote workof cloud. When a tactile interface is used, 5G demands much lowerend-to-end latency to maintain user good experience. Entertainment, forexample, cloud gaming and video streaming, is another core element whichincreases demand for mobile broadband capability. Entertainment isessential for a smartphone and a tablet in any place including highmobility environments such as a train, a vehicle, and an airplane. Otheruse cases are augmented reality for entertainment and informationsearch. In this case, the augmented reality requires very low latencyand instantaneous data volume.

In addition, one of the most expected 5G use cases relates a functioncapable of smoothly connecting embedded sensors in all fields, i.e.,mMTC. It is expected that the number of potential Internet-of-things(IoT) devices will reach 204 hundred million up to the year of 2020. Anindustrial IoT is one of categories of performing a main role enabling asmart city, asset tracking, smart utility, agriculture, and securityinfrastructure through 5G.

URLLC includes a new service that will change industry through remotecontrol of main infrastructure and an ultra-reliable/availablelow-latency link such as a self-driving vehicle. A level of reliabilityand latency is essential to control a smart grid, automatize industry,achieve robotics, and control and adjust a drone.

5G is a means of providing streaming evaluated as a few hundred megabitsper second to gigabits per second and may complement fiber-to-the-home(FTTH) and cable-based broadband (or DOCSIS). Such fast speed is neededto deliver TV in resolution of 4K or more (6K, 8K, and more), as well asvirtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual reality (VR) andaugmented reality (AR) applications include almost immersive sportsgames. A specific application program may require a special networkconfiguration. For example, for VR games, gaming companies need toincorporate a core server into an edge network server of a networkoperator in order to minimize latency.

Automotive is expected to be a new important motivated force in 5Gtogether with many use cases for mobile communication for vehicles. Forexample, entertainment for passengers requires high simultaneouscapacity and mobile broadband with high mobility. This is because futureusers continue to expect connection of high quality regardless of theirlocations and speeds. Another use case of an automotive field is an ARdashboard. The AR dashboard causes a driver to identify an object in thedark in addition to an object seen from a front window and displays adistance from the object and a movement of the object by overlappinginformation talking to the driver. In the future, a wireless moduleenables communication between vehicles, information exchange between avehicle and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange betweena vehicle and other connected devices (e.g., devices accompanied by apedestrian). A safety system guides alternative courses of a behavior sothat a driver may drive more safely drive, thereby lowering the dangerof an accident. The next stage will be a remotely controlled orself-driven vehicle. This requires very high reliability and very fastcommunication between different self-driven vehicles and between avehicle and infrastructure. In the future, a self-driven vehicle willperform all driving activities and a driver will focus only uponabnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot identify. Technicalrequirements of a self-driven vehicle demand ultra-low latency andultra-high reliability so that traffic safety is increased to a levelthat cannot be achieved by human being.

A smart city and a smart home/building mentioned as a smart society willbe embedded in a high-density wireless sensor network. A distributednetwork of an intelligent sensor will identify conditions for costs andenergy-efficient maintenance of a city or a home Similar configurationsmay be performed for respective households. All of temperature sensors,window and heating controllers, burglar alarms, and home appliances arewirelessly connected. Many of these sensors are typically low in datatransmission rate, power, and cost. However, real-time HD video may bedemanded by a specific type of device to perform monitoring.

Consumption and distribution of energy including heat or gas isdistributed at a higher level so that automated control of thedistribution sensor network is demanded. The smart grid collectsinformation and connects the sensors to each other using digitalinformation and communication technology so as to act according to thecollected information. Since this information may include behaviors of asupply company and a consumer, the smart grid may improve distributionof fuels such as electricity by a method having efficiency, reliability,economic feasibility, production sustainability, and automation. Thesmart grid may also be regarded as another sensor network having lowlatency.

Mission critical application (e.g., e-health) is one of 5G usescenarios. A health part contains many application programs capable ofenjoying benefit of mobile communication. A communication system maysupport remote treatment that provides clinical treatment in a farawayplace. Remote treatment may aid in reducing a barrier against distanceand improve access to medical services that cannot be continuouslyavailable in a faraway rural area. Remote treatment is also used toperform important treatment and save lives in an emergency situation.The wireless sensor network based on mobile communication may provideremote monitoring and sensors for parameters such as heart rate andblood pressure.

Wireless and mobile communication gradually becomes important in thefield of an industrial application. Wiring is high in installation andmaintenance cost. Therefore, a possibility of replacing a cable withreconstructible wireless links is an attractive opportunity in manyindustrial fields. However, in order to achieve this replacement, it isnecessary for wireless connection to be established with latency,reliability, and capacity similar to those of the cable and managementof wireless connection needs to be simplified. Low latency and a verylow error probability are new requirements when connection to 5G isneeded.

Logistics and freight tracking are important use cases for mobilecommunication that enables inventory and package tracking anywhere usinga location-based information system. The use cases of logistics andfreight typically demand low data rate but require location informationwith a wide range and reliability.

Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes wirelessdevices 100 a to 100 f, base stations (BSs) 200, and a network 300.Although FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G network as an example of the network ofthe communication system 1, the implementations of the presentdisclosure are not limited to the 5G system, and can be applied to thefuture communication system beyond the 5G system.

The BSs 200 and the network 300 may be implemented as wireless devicesand a specific wireless device may operate as a BS/network node withrespect to other wireless devices.

The wireless devices 100 a to 100 f represent devices performingcommunication using radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G new RAT(NR)) or LTE) and may be referred to as communication/radio/5G devices.The wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may include, without being limitedto, a robot 100 a, vehicles 100 b-1 and 100 b-2, an extended reality(XR) device 100 c, a hand-held device 100 d, a home appliance 100 e, anIoT device 100 f, and an artificial intelligence (AI) device/server 400.For example, the vehicles may include a vehicle having a wirelesscommunication function, an autonomous driving vehicle, and a vehiclecapable of performing communication between vehicles. The vehicles mayinclude an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone). The XR devicemay include an AR/VR/Mixed Reality (MR) device and may be implemented inthe form of a head-mounted device (HMD), a head-up display (HUD) mountedin a vehicle, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device,a home appliance device, a digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. Thehand-held device may include a smartphone, a smartpad, a wearable device(e.g., a smartwatch or a smartglasses), and a computer (e.g., anotebook). The home appliance may include a TV, a refrigerator, and awashing machine. The IoT device may include a sensor and a smartmeter.

In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may becalled user equipments (UEs). A UE may include, for example, a cellularphone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcast terminal, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), anavigation system, a slate personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, anultrabook, a vehicle, a vehicle having an autonomous traveling function,a connected car, an UAV, an AI module, a robot, an AR device, a VRdevice, an MR device, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTCdevice, an IoT device, a medical device, a FinTech device (or afinancial device), a security device, a weather/environment device, adevice related to a 5G service, or a device related to a fourthindustrial revolution field.

The UAV may be, for example, an aircraft aviated by a wireless controlsignal without a human being onboard.

The VR device may include, for example, a device for implementing anobject or a background of the virtual world. The AR device may include,for example, a device implemented by connecting an object or abackground of the virtual world to an object or a background of the realworld. The MR device may include, for example, a device implemented bymerging an object or a background of the virtual world into an object ora background of the real world. The hologram device may include, forexample, a device for implementing a stereoscopic image of 360 degreesby recording and reproducing stereoscopic information, using aninterference phenomenon of light generated when two laser lights calledholography meet.

The public safety device may include, for example, an image relay deviceor an image device that is wearable on the body of a user.

The MTC device and the IoT device may be, for example, devices that donot require direct human intervention or manipulation. For example, theMTC device and the IoT device may include smartmeters, vending machines,thermometers, smartbulbs, door locks, or various sensors.

The medical device may be, for example, a device used for the purpose ofdiagnosing, treating, relieving, curing, or preventing disease. Forexample, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose ofdiagnosing, treating, relieving, or correcting injury or impairment. Forexample, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose ofinspecting, replacing, or modifying a structure or a function. Forexample, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose ofadjusting pregnancy. For example, the medical device may include adevice for treatment, a device for operation, a device for (in vitro)diagnosis, a hearing aid, or a device for procedure.

The security device may be, for example, a device installed to prevent adanger that may arise and to maintain safety. For example, the securitydevice may be a camera, a closed-circuit TV (CCTV), a recorder, or ablack box.

The FinTech device may be, for example, a device capable of providing afinancial service such as mobile payment. For example, the FinTechdevice may include a payment device or a point of sales (POS) system.

The weather/environment device may include, for example, a device formonitoring or predicting a weather/environment.

The wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may be connected to the network 300via the BSs 200. An AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices100 a to 100 f and the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may be connectedto the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 may beconfigured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR)network, and a beyond-5G network. Although the wireless devices 100 a to100 f may communicate with each other through the BSs 200/network 300,the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may perform direct communication(e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without passing throughthe BSs 200/network 300. For example, the vehicles 100 b-1 and 100 b-2may perform direct communication (e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V)/vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). The IoT device (e.g.,a sensor) may perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g.,sensors) or other wireless devices 100 a to 100 f.

Wireless communication/connections 150 a, 150 b and 150 c may beestablished between the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f and/or betweenwireless device 100 a to 100 f and BS 200 and/or between BSs 200.Herein, the wireless communication/connections may be establishedthrough various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink/downlink communication150 a, sidelink communication (or device-to-device (D2D) communication)150 b, inter-base station communication 150 c (e.g., relay, integratedaccess and backhaul (IAB)), etc. The wireless devices 100 a to 100 f andthe BSs 200/the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may transmit/receiveradio signals to/from each other through the wirelesscommunication/connections 150 a, 150 b and 150 c. For example, thewireless communication/connections 150 a, 150 b and 150 c maytransmit/receive signals through various physical channels. To this end,at least a part of various configuration information configuringprocesses, various signal processing processes (e.g., channelencoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and resourcemapping/de-mapping), and resource allocating processes, fortransmitting/receiving radio signals, may be performed based on thevarious proposals of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations ofthe present disclosure is applied.

Referring to FIG. 2, a first wireless device 100 and a second wirelessdevice 200 may transmit/receive radio signals to/from an external devicethrough a variety of RATs (e.g., LTE and NR). In FIG. 2, {the firstwireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200} may correspondto at least one of {the wireless device 100 a to 100 f and the BS 200},{the wireless device 100 a to 100 f and the wireless device 100 a to 100f} and/or {the BS 200 and the BS 200} of FIG. 1.

The first wireless device 100 may include one or more processors 102 andone or more memories 104 and additionally further include one or moretransceivers 106 and/or one or more antennas 108. The processor(s) 102may control the memory(s) 104 and/or the transceiver(s) 106 and may beconfigured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures,suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts described in thepresent disclosure. For example, the processor(s) 102 may processinformation within the memory(s) 104 to generate firstinformation/signals and then transmit radio signals including the firstinformation/signals through the transceiver(s) 106. The processor(s) 102may receive radio signals including second information/signals throughthe transceiver(s) 106 and then store information obtained by processingthe second information/signals in the memory(s) 104. The memory(s) 104may be connected to the processor(s) 102 and may store a variety ofinformation related to operations of the processor(s) 102. For example,the memory(s) 104 may store software code including commands forperforming a part or the entirety of processes controlled by theprocessor(s) 102 or for performing the descriptions, functions,procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts describedin the present disclosure. Herein, the processor(s) 102 and thememory(s) 104 may be a part of a communication modem/circuit/chipdesigned to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver(s) 106 maybe connected to the processor(s) 102 and transmit and/or receive radiosignals through one or more antennas 108. Each of the transceiver(s) 106may include a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transceiver(s) 106 maybe interchangeably used with radio frequency (RF) unit(s). In thepresent disclosure, the first wireless device 100 may represent acommunication modem/circuit/chip.

The second wireless device 200 may include one or more processors 202and one or more memories 204 and additionally further include one ormore transceivers 206 and/or one or more antennas 208. The processor(s)202 may control the memory(s) 204 and/or the transceiver(s) 206 and maybe configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures,suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts described in thepresent disclosure. For example, the processor(s) 202 may processinformation within the memory(s) 204 to generate thirdinformation/signals and then transmit radio signals including the thirdinformation/signals through the transceiver(s) 206. The processor(s) 202may receive radio signals including fourth information/signals throughthe transceiver(s) 106 and then store information obtained by processingthe fourth information/signals in the memory(s) 204. The memory(s) 204may be connected to the processor(s) 202 and may store a variety ofinformation related to operations of the processor(s) 202. For example,the memory(s) 204 may store software code including commands forperforming a part or the entirety of processes controlled by theprocessor(s) 202 or for performing the descriptions, functions,procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts describedin the present disclosure. Herein, the processor(s) 202 and thememory(s) 204 may be a part of a communication modem/circuit/chipdesigned to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver(s) 206 maybe connected to the processor(s) 202 and transmit and/or receive radiosignals through one or more antennas 208. Each of the transceiver(s) 206may include a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transceiver(s) 206 maybe interchangeably used with RF unit(s). In the present disclosure, thesecond wireless device 200 may represent a communicationmodem/circuit/chip.

Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless devices 100 and 200 willbe described more specifically. One or more protocol layers may beimplemented by, without being limited to, one or more processors 102 and202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may implementone or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as physical (PHY)layer, media access control (MAC) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer,packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, radio resource control(RRC) layer, and service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer). The oneor more processors 102 and 202 may generate one or more protocol dataunits (PDUs) and/or one or more service data unit (SDUs) according tothe descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/oroperational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The one ormore processors 102 and 202 may generate messages, control information,data, or information according to the descriptions, functions,procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosedin the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and 202 maygenerate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs,messages, control information, data, or information according to thedescriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/oroperational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure and providethe generated signals to the one or more transceivers 106 and 206. Theone or more processors 102 and 202 may receive the signals (e.g.,baseband signals) from the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 andacquire the PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, orinformation according to the descriptions, functions, procedures,suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in thepresent disclosure.

The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be referred to ascontrollers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. Theone or more processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware,firmware, software, or a combination thereof. As an example, one or moreapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more digitalsignal processors (DSPs), one or more digital signal processing devices(DSPDs), one or more programmable logic devices (PLDs), or one or morefield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the one ormore processors 102 and 202. descriptions, functions, procedures,suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in thepresent disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software and thefirmware or software may be configured to include the modules,procedures, or functions. Firmware or software configured to perform thedescriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/oroperational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure may beincluded in the one or more processors 102 and 202 or stored in the oneor more memories 104 and 204 so as to be driven by the one or moreprocessors 102 and 202. The descriptions, functions, procedures,suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in thepresent disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software in theform of code, commands, and/or a set of commands.

The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or moreprocessors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals,messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and/or commands.The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be configured by read-onlymemories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memories (EPROMs), flash memories, hard drives,registers, cash memories, computer-readable storage media, and/orcombinations thereof. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may belocated at the interior and/or exterior of the one or more processors102 and 202. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected tothe one or more processors 102 and 202 through various technologies suchas wired or wireless connection.

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, controlinformation, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned in thedescriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/oroperational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, to one ormore other devices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receiveuser data, control information, and/or radio signals/channels, mentionedin the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/oroperational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, from one ormore other devices. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and206 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 andtransmit and receive radio signals. For example, the one or moreprocessors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or moretransceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, orradio signals to one or more other devices. The one or more processors102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106and 206 may receive user data, control information, or radio signalsfrom one or more other devices.

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one ormore antennas 108 and 208 and the one or more transceivers 106 and 206may be configured to transmit and receive user data, controlinformation, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned in thedescriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/oroperational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, through theone or more antennas 108 and 208. In the present disclosure, the one ormore antennas may be a plurality of physical antennas or a plurality oflogical antennas (e.g., antenna ports).

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert received radiosignals/channels, etc., from RF band signals into baseband signals inorder to process received user data, control information, radiosignals/channels, etc., using the one or more processors 102 and 202.The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert the user data,control information, radio signals/channels, etc., processed using theone or more processors 102 and 202 from the base band signals into theRF band signals. To this end, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206may include (analog) oscillators and/or filters. For example, thetransceivers 106 and 206 can up-convert OFDM baseband signals to acarrier frequency by their (analog) oscillators and/or filters under thecontrol of the processors 102 and 202 and transmit the up-converted OFDMsignals at the carrier frequency. The transceivers 106 and 206 mayreceive OFDM signals at a carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDMsignals into OFDM baseband signals by their (analog) oscillators and/orfilters under the control of the transceivers 102 and 202.

In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as atransmitting device in uplink (UL) and as a receiving device in downlink(DL). In the implementations of the present disclosure, a BS may operateas a receiving device in UL and as a transmitting device in DL.Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is mainly assumed thatthe first wireless device 100 acts as the UE, and the second wirelessdevice 200 acts as the BS. For example, the processor(s) 102 connectedto, mounted on or launched in the first wireless device 100 may beconfigured to perform the UE behavior according to an implementation ofthe present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 106 to perform theUE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure.The processor(s) 202 connected to, mounted on or launched in the secondwireless device 200 may be configured to perform the BS behavioraccording to an implementation of the present disclosure or control thetransceiver(s) 206 to perform the BS behavior according to animplementation of the present disclosure.

In the present disclosure, a BS is also referred to as a node B (NB), aneNode B (eNB), or a gNB.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a wireless device to which implementations ofthe present disclosure is applied.

The wireless device may be implemented in various forms according to ause-case/service (refer to FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 3, wireless devices 100 and 200 may correspond to thewireless devices 100 and 200 of FIG. 2 and may be configured by variouselements, components, units/portions, and/or modules. For example, eachof the wireless devices 100 and 200 may include a communication unit110, a control unit 120, a memory unit 130, and additional components140. The communication unit 110 may include a communication circuit 112and transceiver(s) 114. For example, the communication circuit 112 mayinclude the one or more processors 102 and 202 of FIG. 2 and/or the oneor more memories 104 and 204 of FIG. 2. For example, the transceiver(s)114 may include the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 of FIG. 2and/or the one or more antennas 108 and 208 of FIG. 2. The control unit120 is electrically connected to the communication unit 110, the memory130, and the additional components 140 and controls overall operation ofeach of the wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the control unit120 may control an electric/mechanical operation of each of the wirelessdevices 100 and 200 based on programs/code/commands/information storedin the memory unit 130. The control unit 120 may transmit theinformation stored in the memory unit 130 to the exterior (e.g., othercommunication devices) via the communication unit 110 through awireless/wired interface or store, in the memory unit 130, informationreceived through the wireless/wired interface from the exterior (e.g.,other communication devices) via the communication unit 110.

The additional components 140 may be variously configured according totypes of the wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the additionalcomponents 140 may include at least one of a power unit/battery,input/output (I/O) unit (e.g., audio I/O port, video I/O port), adriving unit, and a computing unit. The wireless devices 100 and 200 maybe implemented in the form of, without being limited to, the robot (100a of FIG. 1), the vehicles (100 b-1 and 100 b-2 of FIG. 1), the XRdevice (100 c of FIG. 1), the hand-held device (100 d of FIG. 1), thehome appliance (100 e of FIG. 1), the IoT device (100 f of FIG. 1), adigital broadcast terminal, a hologram device, a public safety device,an MTC device, a medicine device, a FinTech device (or a financedevice), a security device, a climate/environment device, the AIserver/device (400 of FIG. 1), the BSs (200 of FIG. 1), a network node,etc. The wireless devices 100 and 200 may be used in a mobile or fixedplace according to a use-example/service.

In FIG. 3, the entirety of the various elements, components,units/portions, and/or modules in the wireless devices 100 and 200 maybe connected to each other through a wired interface or at least a partthereof may be wirelessly connected through the communication unit 110.For example, in each of the wireless devices 100 and 200, the controlunit 120 and the communication unit 110 may be connected by wire and thecontrol unit 120 and first units (e.g., 130 and 140) may be wirelesslyconnected through the communication unit 110. Each element, component,unit/portion, and/or module within the wireless devices 100 and 200 mayfurther include one or more elements. For example, the control unit 120may be configured by a set of one or more processors. As an example, thecontrol unit 120 may be configured by a set of a communication controlprocessor, an application processor (AP), an electronic control unit(ECU), a graphical processing unit, and a memory control processor. Asanother example, the memory 130 may be configured by a RAM, a DRAM, aROM, a flash memory, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and/or acombination thereof.

FIG. 4 shows another example of wireless devices to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

Referring to FIG. 4, wireless devices 100 and 200 may correspond to thewireless devices 100 and 200 of FIG. 2 and may be configured by variouselements, components, units/portions, and/or modules.

The first wireless device 100 may include at least one transceiver, suchas a transceiver 106, and at least one processing chip, such as aprocessing chip 101. The processing chip 101 may include at least oneprocessor, such a processor 102, and at least one memory, such as amemory 104. The memory 104 may be operably connectable to the processor102. The memory 104 may store various types of information and/orinstructions. The memory 104 may store a software code 105 whichimplements instructions that, when executed by the processor 102,perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methodsand/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. Forexample, the software code 105 may implement instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions,procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosedin the present disclosure. For example, the software code 105 maycontrol the processor 102 to perform one or more protocols. For example,the software code 105 may control the processor 102 may perform one ormore layers of the radio interface protocol.

The second wireless device 200 may include at least one transceiver,such as a transceiver 206, and at least one processing chip, such as aprocessing chip 201. The processing chip 201 may include at least oneprocessor, such a processor 202, and at least one memory, such as amemory 204. The memory 204 may be operably connectable to the processor202. The memory 204 may store various types of information and/orinstructions. The memory 204 may store a software code 205 whichimplements instructions that, when executed by the processor 202,perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methodsand/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. Forexample, the software code 205 may implement instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions,procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosedin the present disclosure. For example, the software code 205 maycontrol the processor 202 to perform one or more protocols. For example,the software code 205 may control the processor 202 may perform one ormore layers of the radio interface protocol.

FIG. 5 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the presentdisclosure is applied.

Referring to FIG. 5, a UE 100 may correspond to the first wirelessdevice 100 of FIG. 2 and/or the first wireless device 100 of FIG. 4.

A UE 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a transceiver 106, oneor more antennas 108, a power management module 110, a battery 1112, adisplay 114, a keypad 116, a subscriber identification module (SIM) card118, a speaker 120, and a microphone 122.

The processor 102 may be configured to implement the descriptions,functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operationalflowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The processor 102 may beconfigured to control one or more other components of the UE 100 toimplement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methodsand/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure.Layers of the radio interface protocol may be implemented in theprocessor 102. The processor 102 may include ASIC, other chipset, logiccircuit and/or data processing device. The processor 102 may be anapplication processor. The processor 102 may include at least one of adigital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), agraphics processing unit (GPU), a modem (modulator and demodulator). Anexample of the processor 102 may be found in SNAPDRAGON™ series ofprocessors made by Qualcomm®, EXYNOS™ series of processors made bySamsung®, A series of processors made by Apple®, HELIO™ series ofprocessors made by MediaTek®, ATOM™ series of processors made by Intel®or a corresponding next generation processor.

The memory 104 is operatively coupled with the processor 102 and storesa variety of information to operate the processor 102. The memory 104may include ROM, RAM, flash memory, memory card, storage medium and/orother storage device. When the embodiments are implemented in software,the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g.,procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the descriptions, functions,procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosedin the present disclosure. The modules can be stored in the memory 104and executed by the processor 102. The memory 104 can be implementedwithin the processor 102 or external to the processor 102 in which casethose can be communicatively coupled to the processor 102 via variousmeans as is known in the art.

The transceiver 106 is operatively coupled with the processor 102, andtransmits and/or receives a radio signal. The transceiver 106 includes atransmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 106 may include basebandcircuitry to process radio frequency signals. The transceiver 106controls the one or more antennas 108 to transmit and/or receive a radiosignal.

The power management module 110 manages power for the processor 102and/or the transceiver 106. The battery 112 supplies power to the powermanagement module 110.

The display 114 outputs results processed by the processor 102. Thekeypad 116 receives inputs to be used by the processor 102. The keypad16 may be shown on the display 114.

The SIM card 118 is an integrated circuit that is intended to securelystore the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number and itsrelated key, which are used to identify and authenticate subscribers onmobile telephony devices (such as mobile phones and computers). It isalso possible to store contact information on many SIM cards.

The speaker 120 outputs sound-related results processed by the processor102. The microphone 122 receives sound-related inputs to be used by theprocessor 102.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP basedwireless communication system to which implementations of the presentdisclosure is applied.

In particular, FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a radio interface userplane protocol stack between a UE and a BS and FIG. 7 illustrates anexample of a radio interface control plane protocol stack between a UEand a BS. The control plane refers to a path through which controlmessages used to manage call by a UE and a network are transported. Theuser plane refers to a path through which data generated in anapplication layer, for example, voice data or Internet packet data aretransported. Referring to FIG. 6, the user plane protocol stack may bedivided into Layer 1 (i.e., a PHY layer) and Layer 2. Referring to FIG.7, the control plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (i.e., aPHY layer), Layer 2, Layer 3 (e.g., an RRC layer), and a non-accessstratum (NAS) layer. Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 are referred to as anaccess stratum (AS).

In the 3GPP LTE system, the Layer 2 is split into the followingsublayers: MAC, RLC, and PDCP. In the 3GPP NR system, the Layer 2 issplit into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, PDCP and SDAP. The PHYlayer offers to the MAC sublayer transport channels, the MAC sublayeroffers to the RLC sublayer logical channels, the RLC sublayer offers tothe PDCP sublayer RLC channels, the PDCP sublayer offers to the SDAPsublayer radio bearers. The SDAP sublayer offers to 5G core networkquality of service (QoS) flows.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the MACsublayer include: mapping between logical channels and transportchannels; multiplexing/de-multiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one ordifferent logical channels into/from transport blocks (TB) deliveredto/from the physical layer on transport channels; scheduling informationreporting; error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) (one HARQ entity per cell in case of carrier aggregation (CA));priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling; priorityhandling between logical channels of one UE by means of logical channelprioritization; padding. A single MAC entity may support multiplenumerologies, transmission timings and cells. Mapping restrictions inlogical channel prioritization control which numerology(ies), cell(s),and transmission timing(s) a logical channel can use.

Different kinds of data transfer services are offered by MAC. Toaccommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple types oflogical channels are defined, i.e., each supporting transfer of aparticular type of information. Each logical channel type is defined bywhat type of information is transferred. Logical channels are classifiedinto two groups: control channels and traffic channels. Control channelsare used for the transfer of control plane information only, and trafficchannels are used for the transfer of user plane information only.Broadcast control channel (BCCH) is a downlink logical channel forbroadcasting system control information, paging control channel (PCCH)is a downlink logical channel that transfers paging information, systeminformation change notifications and indications of ongoing publicwarning service (PWS) broadcasts, common control channel (CCCH) is alogical channel for transmitting control information between UEs andnetwork and used for UEs having no RRC connection with the network, anddedicated control channel (DCCH) is a point-to-point bi-directionallogical channel that transmits dedicated control information between aUE and the network and used by UEs having an RRC connection. Dedicatedtraffic channel (DTCH) is a point-to-point logical channel, dedicated toone UE, for the transfer of user information. A DTCH can exist in bothuplink and downlink. In downlink, the following connections betweenlogical channels and transport channels exist: BCCH can be mapped tobroadcast channel (BCH); BCCH can be mapped to downlink shared channel(DL-SCH); PCCH can be mapped to paging channel (PCH); CCCH can be mappedto DL-SCH; DCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped toDL-SCH. In uplink, the following connections between logical channelsand transport channels exist: CCCH can be mapped to uplink sharedchannel (UL-SCH); DCCH can be mapped to UL-SCH; and DTCH can be mappedto UL-SCH.

The RLC sublayer supports three transmission modes: transparent mode(TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged node (AM). The RLCconfiguration is per logical channel with no dependency on numerologiesand/or transmission durations. In the 3GPP NR system, the main servicesand functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode andinclude: transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent ofthe one in PDCP (UM and AM); error correction through ARQ (AM only);segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs;reassembly of SDU (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDUdiscard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; protocol error detection (AMonly).

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the PDCPsublayer for the user plane include: sequence numbering; headercompression and decompression using robust header compression (ROHC);transfer of user data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-orderdelivery; PDCP PDU routing (in case of split bearers); retransmission ofPDCP SDUs; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; PDCP SDUdiscard; PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; PDCP statusreporting for RLC AM; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discardindication to lower layers. The main services and functions of the PDCPsublayer for the control plane include: sequence numbering; ciphering,deciphering and integrity protection; transfer of control plane data;reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; duplication ofPDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of SDAP include:mapping between a QoS flow and a data radio bearer; marking QoS flow ID(QFI) in both DL and UL packets. A single protocol entity of SDAP isconfigured for each individual PDU session.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RRCsublayer include: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS;paging initiated by 5GC or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance andrelease of an RRC connection between the UE and NG-RAN; securityfunctions including key management; establishment, configuration,maintenance and release of signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radiobearers (DRBs); mobility functions (including: handover and contexttransfer, UE cell selection and reselection and control of cellselection and reselection, inter-RAT mobility); QoS managementfunctions; UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting;detection of and recovery from radio link failure; NAS message transferto/from NAS from/to UE.

FIG. 8 shows a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communicationsystem to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

The frame structure shown in FIG. 8 is purely exemplary and the numberof subframes, the number of slots, and/or the number of symbols in aframe may be variously changed. In the 3GPP based wireless communicationsystem, OFDM numerologies (e.g., subcarrier spacing (SCS), transmissiontime interval (TTI) duration) may be differently configured between aplurality of cells aggregated for one UE. For example, if a UE isconfigured with different SCSs for cells aggregated for the cell, an(absolute time) duration of a time resource (e.g., a subframe, a slot,or a TTI) including the same number of symbols may be different amongthe aggregated cells. Herein, symbols may include OFDM symbols (orCP-OFDM symbols), SC-FDMA symbols (or discrete Fouriertransform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols).

Referring to FIG. 8, downlink and uplink transmissions are organizedinto frames. Each frame has T_(f)=10 ms duration. Each frame is dividedinto two half-frames, where each of the half-frames has 5 ms duration.Each half-frame consists of 5 subframes, where the duration T_(sf) persubframe is 1 ms. Each subframe is divided into slots and the number ofslots in a subframe depends on a subcarrier spacing. Each slot includes14 or 12 OFDM symbols based on a cyclic prefix (CP). In a normal CP,each slot includes 14 OFDM symbols and, in an extended CP, each slotincludes 12 OFDM symbols. The numerology is based on exponentiallyscalable subcarrier spacing Δf=2^(u)*15 kHz.

Table 1 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot N^(slot) _(symb), thenumber of slots per frame N^(frame,u) _(slot), and the number of slotsper subframe N^(subframe,u) _(slot) for the normal CP, according to thesubcarrier spacing Δf=2^(u)*15 kHz.

TABLE 1 u N^(slot) _(symb) N^(frame, u) _(slot) N^(subframe, u) _(slot)0 14 10 1 1 14 20 2 2 14 40 4 3 14 80 8 4 14 160 16

Table 2 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot N^(slot) _(synth), thenumber of slots per frame N^(frame,u) _(slot), and the number of slotsper subframe N^(subframe,u) _(slot) for the extended CP, according tothe subcarrier spacing Δf=2^(u)*15 kHz.

TABLE 2 u N^(slot) _(symb) N^(frame, u) _(slot) N^(subframe, u) _(slot)2 12 40 4

A slot includes plural symbols (e.g., 14 or 12 symbols) in the timedomain. For each numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing) and carrier, aresource grid of N^(size,u) _(grid,x)*N^(RB) _(sc) subcarriers andN^(subframe,u) _(symb) OFDM symbols is defined, starting at commonresource block (CRB) N^(start,u) _(grid) indicated by higher-layersignaling (e.g., RRC signaling), where N^(size,u) _(grid,x) is thenumber of resource blocks (RBs) in the resource grid and the subscript xis DL for downlink and UL for uplink. N^(RB) _(sc) is the number ofsubcarriers per RB. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system,N^(RB) _(sc) is 12 generally. There is one resource grid for a givenantenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration u, and transmissiondirection (DL or UL). The carrier bandwidth N^(size,u) _(grid) forsubcarrier spacing configuration u is given by the higher-layerparameter (e.g., RRC parameter). Each element in the resource grid forthe antenna port p and the subcarrier spacing configuration u isreferred to as a resource element (RE) and one complex symbol may bemapped to each RE. Each RE in the resource grid is uniquely identifiedby an index k in the frequency domain and an index l representing asymbol location relative to a reference point in the time domain. In the3GPP based wireless communication system, an RB is defined by 12consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain.

In the 3GPP NR system, RBs are classified into CRBs and physicalresource blocks (PRBs). CRBs are numbered from 0 and upwards in thefrequency domain for subcarrier spacing configuration u. The center ofsubcarrier 0 of CRB 0 for subcarrier spacing configuration u coincideswith ‘point A’ which serves as a common reference point for resourceblock grids. In the 3GPP NR system, PRBs are defined within a bandwidthpart (BWP) and numbered from 0 to N^(size) _(BWP,i)−1, where i is thenumber of the bandwidth part. The relation between the physical resourceblock n_(PRB) in the bandwidth part i and the common resource blockn_(CRB) is as follows: n_(PRB)=n_(CRB)+N^(size) _(BWP,i), where N^(size)_(BWP,i) is the common resource block where bandwidth part startsrelative to CRB 0. The BWP includes a plurality of consecutive RBs. Acarrier may include a maximum of N (e.g., 5) BWPs. A UE may beconfigured with one or more BWPs on a given component carrier. Only oneBWP among BWPs configured to the UE can active at a time. The active BWPdefines the UE's operating bandwidth within the cell's operatingbandwidth.

The NR frequency band may be defined as two types of frequency range,i.e., FR1 and FR2. The numerical value of the frequency range may bechanged. For example, the frequency ranges of the two types (FR1 andFR2) may be as shown in Table 3 below. For ease of explanation, in thefrequency ranges used in the NR system, FR1 may mean “sub 6 GHz range”,FR2 may mean “above 6 GHz range,” and may be referred to as millimeterwave (mmW).

TABLE 3 Frequency Range Corresponding designation frequency rangeSubcarrier Spacing FR1  450 MHz-6000 MHz  15, 30, 60 kHz FR2 24250MHz-52600 MHz 60, 120, 240 kHz

As mentioned above, the numerical value of the frequency range of the NRsystem may be changed. For example, FR1 may include a frequency band of410 MHz to 7125 MHz as shown in Table 4 below. That is, FR1 may includea frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or more. Forexample, a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) ormore included in FR1 may include an unlicensed band. Unlicensed bandsmay be used for a variety of purposes, for example for communication forvehicles (e.g., autonomous driving).

TABLE 4 Frequency Range Corresponding designation frequency rangeSubcarrier Spacing FR1  410 MHz-7125 MHz  15, 30, 60 kHz FR2 24250MHz-52600 MHz 60, 120, 240 kHz

In the present disclosure, the term “cell” may refer to a geographicarea to which one or more nodes provide a communication system, or referto radio resources. A “cell” as a geographic area may be understood ascoverage within which a node can provide service using a carrier and a“cell” as radio resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) is associatedwith bandwidth which is a frequency range configured by the carrier. The“cell” associated with the radio resources is defined by a combinationof downlink resources and uplink resources, for example, a combinationof a DL component carrier (CC) and a UL CC. The cell may be configuredby downlink resources only, or may be configured by downlink resourcesand uplink resources. Since DL coverage, which is a range within whichthe node is capable of transmitting a valid signal, and UL coverage,which is a range within which the node is capable of receiving the validsignal from the UE, depends upon a carrier carrying the signal, thecoverage of the node may be associated with coverage of the “cell” ofradio resources used by the node. Accordingly, the term “cell” may beused to represent service coverage of the node sometimes, radioresources at other times, or a range that signals using the radioresources can reach with valid strength at other times.

In CA, two or more CCs are aggregated. A UE may simultaneously receiveor transmit on one or multiple CCs depending on its capabilities. CA issupported for both contiguous and non-contiguous CCs. When CA isconfigured, the UE only has one RRC connection with the network. At RRCconnection establishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cellprovides the NAS mobility information, and at RRC connectionre-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the security input.This cell is referred to as the primary cell (PCell). The PCell is acell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE eitherperforms the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates theconnection re-establishment procedure. Depending on UE capabilities,secondary cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with thePCell a set of serving cells. An SCell is a cell providing additionalradio resources on top of special cell (SpCell). The configured set ofserving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one ormore SCells. For dual connectivity (DC) operation, the term SpCellrefers to the PCell of the master cell group (MCG) or the primary SCell(PSCell) of the secondary cell group (SCG). An SpCell supports PUCCHtransmission and contention-based random access, and is alwaysactivated. The MCG is a group of serving cells associated with a masternode, comprised of the SpCell (PCell) and optionally one or more SCells.The SCG is the subset of serving cells associated with a secondary node,comprised of the PSCell and zero or more SCells, for a UE configuredwith DC. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC, there isonly one serving cell comprised of the PCell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTEDconfigured with CA/DC, the term “serving cells” is used to denote theset of cells comprised of the SpCell(s) and all SCells. In DC, two MACentities are configured in a UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG.

FIG. 9 shows a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

Referring to FIG. 9, “RB” denotes a radio bearer, and “H” denotes aheader. Radio bearers are categorized into two groups: DRBs for userplane data and SRBs for control plane data. The MAC PDU istransmitted/received using radio resources through the PHY layer to/froman external device. The MAC PDU arrives to the PHY layer in the form ofa transport block.

In the PHY layer, the uplink transport channels UL-SCH and RACH aremapped to their physical channels physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)and physical random access channel (PRACH), respectively, and thedownlink transport channels DL-SCH, BCH and PCH are mapped to physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical broadcast channel (PBCH) andPDSCH, respectively. In the PHY layer, uplink control information (UCI)is mapped to physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and downlinkcontrol information (DCI) is mapped to physical downlink control channel(PDCCH). A MAC PDU related to UL-SCH is transmitted by a UE via a PUSCHbased on an UL grant, and a MAC PDU related to DL-SCH is transmitted bya BS via a PDSCH based on a DL assignment.

In order to transmit data unit(s) of the present disclosure on UL-SCH, aUE shall have uplink resources available to the UE. In order to receivedata unit(s) of the present disclosure on DL-SCH, a UE shall havedownlink resources available to the UE. The resource allocation includestime domain resource allocation and frequency domain resourceallocation. In the present disclosure, uplink resource allocation isalso referred to as uplink grant, and downlink resource allocation isalso referred to as downlink assignment. An uplink grant is eitherreceived by the UE dynamically on PDCCH, in a random access response, orconfigured to the UE semi-persistently by RRC. Downlink assignment iseither received by the UE dynamically on the PDCCH, or configured to theUE semi-persistently by RRC signaling from the BS.

In UL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to UEs via the cellradio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) on PDCCH(s). A UE alwaysmonitors the PDCCH(s) in order to find possible grants for uplinktransmission when its downlink reception is enabled (activity governedby discontinuous reception (DRX) when configured). In addition, withconfigured grants, the BS can allocate uplink resources for the initialHARQ transmissions to UEs. Two types of configured uplink grants aredefined: Type 1 and Type 2. With Type 1, RRC directly provides theconfigured uplink grant (including the periodicity). With Type 2, RRCdefines the periodicity of the configured uplink grant while PDCCHaddressed to configured scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) can either signal andactivate the configured uplink grant, or deactivate it. That is, a PDCCHaddressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the uplink grant can be implicitlyreused according to the periodicity defined by RRC, until deactivated.

In DL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to UEs via the C-RNTIon PDCCH(s). A UE always monitors the PDCCH(s) in order to find possibleassignments when its downlink reception is enabled (activity governed byDRX when configured). In addition, with semi-persistent Scheduling(SPS), the BS can allocate downlink resources for the initial HARQtransmissions to UEs. RRC defines the periodicity of the configureddownlink assignments while PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI can either signaland activate the configured downlink assignment, or deactivate it. Inother words, a PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the downlinkassignment can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity definedby RRC, until deactivated.

For resource allocation by PDCCH (i.e., resource allocation by DCI),PDCCH can be used to schedule DL transmissions on PDSCH and ULtransmissions on PUSCH, where the DCI on PDCCH includes: downlinkassignments containing at least modulation and coding format (e.g.,modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index I_(MCS)), resource allocation,and hybrid-ARQ information related to DL-SCH; or uplink schedulinggrants containing at least modulation and coding format, resourceallocation, and hybrid-ARQ information related to UL-SCH. The size andusage of the DCI carried by one PDCCH are varied depending on DCIformats. For example, in the 3GPP NR system, DCI format 0_0 or DCIformat 0_1 is used for scheduling of PUSCH in one cell, and DCI format1_0 or DCI format 1_1 is used for scheduling of PDSCH in one cell.

FIG. 10 shows an example of PDSCH time domain resource allocation byPDCCH to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.FIG. 11 shows an example of PUSCH time resource allocation by PDCCH towhich implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

DCI carried by a PDCCH for scheduling PDSCH or PUSCH includes a value mfor a row index m+1 to an allocation table for PDSCH or PUSCH. Either apredefined default PDSCH time domain allocation A, B or C is applied asthe allocation table for PDSCH, or RRC configuredpdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList is applied as the allocation table forPDSCH. Either a predefined default PUSCH time domain allocation A isapplied as the allocation table for PUSCH, or the RRC configuredpusch-TimeDomainAllocationList is applied as the allocation table forPUSCH. Which PDSCH time domain resource allocation configuration toapply and which PUSCH time domain resource allocation table to apply aredetermined according to a fixed/predefined rule.

Each indexed row in PDSCH time domain allocation configurations definesthe slot offset K₀, the start and length indicator SLIV, or directly thestart symbol S and the allocation length L, and the PDSCH mapping typeto be assumed in the PDSCH reception. Each indexed row in PUSCH timedomain allocation configurations defines the slot offset K₂, the startand length indicator SLIV, or directly the start symbol S and theallocation length L, and the PUSCH mapping type to be assumed in thePUSCH reception. K₀ for PDSCH, or K₂ for PUSCH is the timing differencebetween a slot with a PDCCH and a slot with PDSCH or PUSCH correspondingto the PDCCH. SLIV is a joint indication of starting symbol S relativeto the start of the slot with PDSCH or PUSCH, and the number L ofconsecutive symbols counting from the symbol S. For PDSCH/PUSCH mappingtype, there are two mapping types: one is Mapping Type A wheredemodulation reference signal (DMRS) is positioned in 3^(rd) or 4^(th)symbol of a slot depending on the RRC signaling, and other one isMapping Type B where DMRS is positioned in the first allocated symbol.

The scheduling DCI includes the Frequency domain resource assignmentfield which provides assignment information on resource blocks used forPDSCH or PUSCH. For example, the Frequency domain resource assignmentfield may provide a UE with information on a cell for PDSCH or PUSCHtransmission, information on a bandwidth part for PDSCH or PUSCHtransmission, information on resource blocks for PDSCH or PUSCHtransmission.

For resource allocation by RRC, as mentioned above, in uplink, there aretwo types of transmission without dynamic grant: configured grant Type 1where an uplink grant is provided by RRC, and stored as configuredgrant; and configured grant Type 2 where an uplink grant is provided byPDCCH, and stored or cleared as configured uplink grant based on L1signaling indicating configured uplink grant activation or deactivation.Type 1 and Type 2 are configured by RRC per serving cell and per BWP.Multiple configurations can be active simultaneously only on differentserving cells. For Type 2, activation and deactivation are independentamong the serving cells. For the same serving cell, the MAC entity isconfigured with either Type 1 or Type 2.

A UE is provided with at least the following parameters via RRCsignaling from a BS when the configured grant type 1 is configured:

-   -   cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for retransmission;    -   periodicity which provides periodicity of the configured grant        Type 1; timeDomainOffset which represents offset of a resource        with respect to SFN=0 in time domain;    -   timeDomainAllocation value m which provides a row index m+1        pointing to an allocation table, indicating a combination of a        start symbol S and length L and PUSCH mapping type;    -   frequencyDomainAllocation which provides frequency domain        resource allocation; and    -   mcsAndTBS which provides I_(MCS) representing the modulation        order, target code rate and transport block size. Upon        configuration of a configured grant Type 1 for a serving cell by        RRC, the UE stores the uplink grant provided by RRC as a        configured uplink grant for the indicated serving cell, and        initialize or re-initialise the configured uplink grant to start        in the symbol according to timeDomainOffset and S (derived from        SLIV), and to reoccur with periodicity. After an uplink grant is        configured for a configured grant Type 1, the UE considers that        the uplink grant recurs associated with each symbol for which:        [(SFN*numberOfSlotsPerFrame (numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+(slot        number in the frame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+symbol number in the        slot]=(timeDomainOffset*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+S+N*periodicity)modulo(1024*numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot),        for all N>=0.

A UE is provided with at least the following parameters via RRCsignaling from a BS when the configured gran Type 2 is configured:

-   -   cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and        retransmission; and    -   periodicity which provides periodicity of the configured grant        Type 2. The actual uplink grant is provided to the UE by the        PDCCH (addressed to CS-RNTI). After an uplink grant is        configured for a configured grant Type 2, the UE considers that        the uplink grant recurs associated with each symbol for which:        [(SFN*numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+(slot number        in the frame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+symbol number in the        slot]=[(SFN_(start time)*numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+slot_(start time)*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+symbol_(start time))+N*periodicity]modulo(1024×numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot),        for all N>=0, where SFN_(start time), slot_(start time), and        symbol_(start time) are the SFN, slot, and symbol, respectively,        of the first transmission opportunity of PUSCH where the        configured uplink grant was (re-) initialised.        numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot refer to the        number of consecutive slots per frame and the number of        consecutive OFDM symbols per slot, respectively.

For downlink, a UE may be configured with SPS per serving cell and perBWP by RRC signaling from a BS. Multiple configurations can be activesimultaneously only on different serving cells. Activation anddeactivation of the DL SPS are independent among the serving cells. ForDL SPS, a DL assignment is provided to the UE by PDCCH, and stored orcleared based on L1 signaling indicating SPS activation or deactivation.A UE is provided with the following parameters via RRC signaling from aBS when SPS is configured:

-   -   cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and        retransmission;    -   nrofHARQ-Processes: which provides the number of configured HARQ        processes for SPS;    -   periodicity which provides periodicity of configured downlink        assignment for SPS. When SPS is released by upper layers, all        the corresponding configurations shall be released.

After a downlink assignment is configured for SPS, the UE considerssequentially that the N^(th) downlink assignment occurs in the slot forwhich: (numberOfSlotsPerFrame*SFN+slot number in theframe)=[(numberOfSlotsPerFrame*SFN_(start time)+slot_(start time))+N*periodicity*numberOfSlotsPerFrame/10]modulo(1024*numberOfSlotsPerFrame),where SFN_(start time) and slot_(start time) are the SFN and slot,respectively, of the first transmission of PDSCH where the configureddownlink assignment was (re-)initialized.

A UE validates, for scheduling activation or scheduling release, a DLSPS assignment PDCCH or configured UL grant type 2 PDCCH if the cyclicredundancy check (CRC) of a corresponding DCI format is scrambled withCS-RNTI provided by the RRC parameter cs-RNTI and the new data indicatorfield for the enabled transport block is set to 0. Validation of the DCIformat is achieved if all fields for the DCI format are set according toTable 5 or Table 6 below. Table 5 shows special fields for DL SPS and ULgrant Type 2 scheduling activation PDCCH validation, and Table 6 showsspecial fields for DL SPS and UL grant Type 2 scheduling release PDCCHvalidation.

TABLE 5 DCI format DCI format DCI format 0_0/0_1 1_0 1_1 HARQ processset to all ‘0’s set to all ‘0’s set to all ‘0’s number Redundancy set to‘00’ set to ‘00’ For the enabled version transport block: set to ‘00’

TABLE 6 DCI format 0_0 DCI format 1_0 HARQ process number set to all‘0’s set to all ‘0’s Redundancy version set to ‘00’ set to ‘00’Modulation and coding scheme set to all ‘1’s set to all ‘1’s Resourceblock assignment set to all ‘1’s set to all ‘1’s

Actual DL assignment and actual UL grant, and the correspondingmodulation and coding scheme are provided by the resource assignmentfields (e.g., time domain resource assignment field which provides Timedomain resource assignment value m, frequency domain resource assignmentfield which provides the frequency resource block allocation, modulationand coding scheme field) in the DCI format carried by the DL SPS and ULgrant Type 2 scheduling activation PDCCH. If validation is achieved, theUE considers the information in the DCI format as valid activation orvalid release of DL SPS or configured UL grant Type 2.

The data unit(s) of the present disclosure is(are) subject to thephysical layer processing at a transmitting side before transmission viaradio interface, and the radio signals carrying the data unit(s) of thepresent disclosure are subject to the physical layer processing at areceiving side.

FIG. 12 shows an example of physical layer processing at a transmittingside to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

The following tables show the mapping of the transport channels andcontrol information to its corresponding physical channels. Inparticular, Table 7 specifies the mapping of the uplink transportchannels to their corresponding physical channels, Table 8 specifies themapping of the uplink control channel information to its correspondingphysical channel, Table 9 specifies the mapping of the downlinktransport channels to their corresponding physical channels, and Table10 specifies the mapping of the downlink control channel information toits corresponding physical channel

TABLE 7 Transport Channel Physical Channel UL-SCH PUSCH RACH PRACH

TABLE 8 Control information Physical Channel UCI PUCCH, PUSCH

TABLE 9 Transport Channel Physical Channel DL-SCH PDSCH BCH PBCH PCHPDSCH

TABLE 10 Control information Physical Channel DCI PDCCH

Each step of FIG. 12 is described below in detail.

1) Encoding

Data and control streams from/to MAC layer are encoded to offertransport and control services over the radio transmission link in thePHY layer. For example, a transport block from MAC layer is encoded intoa codeword at a transmitting side. Channel coding scheme is acombination of error detection, error correcting, rate matching,interleaving and transport channel or control information mappingonto/splitting from physical channels.

In the NR LTE system, following channel coding schemes are used for thedifferent types of transport channels and the different controlinformation types. Table 11 specifies the mapping of transport channelsto respective coding scheme. Table 12 specifies the mapping of controlinformation to respective coding scheme.

TABLE 11 Transport Channel Coding scheme UL-SCH Low density parity checkDL-SCH (LDPC) code PCH BCH Polar code

TABLE 12 Control Information Coding scheme DCI Polar code UCI Block codePolar code

For transmission of a DL transport block (i.e., a DL MAC PDU) or a ULtransport block (i.e., a UL MAC PDU), a transport block CRC sequence isattached to provide error detection for a receiving side. In the 3GPP NRsystem, the communication device uses LDPC codes in encoding/decodingUL-SCH and DL-SCH. The 3GPP NR system supports two LDPC base graphs(i.e., two LDPC base matrixes): LDPC base graph 1 optimized for smalltransport blocks and LDPC base graph 2 for larger transport blocks.Either LDPC base graph 1 or 2 is selected based on the size of thetransport block and coding rate R. The coding rate R is indicated by theMCS index I_(MCS). The MCS index is dynamically provided to a UE byPDCCH scheduling PUSCH or PDSCH, provided to a UE by PDCCH activating or(re-)initializing the UL configured grant 2 or DL SPS, or provided to aUE by RRC signaling related to the UL configured grant Type 1. If theCRC attached transport block is larger than the maximum code block sizefor the selected LDPC base graph, the CRC attached transport block maybe segmented into code blocks, and an additional CRC sequence isattached to each code block. The maximum code block sizes for the LDPCbase graph 1 and the LDPC base graph 2 are 8448 bits and 3480 bits,respectively. If the CRC attached transport block is not larger than themaximum code block size for the selected LDPC base graph, the CRCattached transport block is encoded with the selected LDPC base graph.Each code block of the transport block is encoded with the selected LDPCbase graph. The LDPC coded blocks are then individually rat matched.Code block concatenation is performed to create a codeword fortransmission on PDSCH or PUSCH. For PDSCH, up to 2 codewords (i.e., upto 2 transport blocks) can be transmitted simultaneously on the PDSCH.PUSCH can be used for transmission of UL-SCH data and layer 1/2 controlinformation.

Although not shown in FIG. 12, the layer 1/2 control information may bemultiplexed with the codeword for UL-SCH data.

2) Scrambling and Modulation

The bits of the codeword are scrambled and modulated to generate a blockof complex-valued modulation symbols.

3) Layer Mapping

The complex-valued modulation symbols of the codeword are mapped to oneor more multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers. A codeword can bemapped to up to 4 layers. A PDSCH can carry two codewords, and thus aPDSCH can support up to 8-layer transmission. A PUSCH supports a singlecodeword, and thus a PUSCH can support up to 4-layer transmission.

4) Transform Precoding

The DL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM using a CP. For DL,transform precoding (in other words, DFT) is not applied.

The UL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM using a CP with atransform precoding function performing DFT spreading that can bedisabled or enabled. In the 3GPP NR system, for UL, the transformprecoding can be optionally applied if enabled. The transform precodingis to spread UL data in a special way to reduce peak-to-average powerratio (PAPR) of the waveform. The transform precoding is a form of DFT.In other words, the 3GPP NR system supports two options for UL waveform:one is CP-OFDM (same as DL waveform) and the other one is DFT-s-OFDM.Whether a UE has to use CP-OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM is determined by a BS viaRRC parameters.

5) Subcarrier Mapping

The layers are mapped to antenna ports. In DL, for the layers to antennaports mapping, a transparent manner (non-codebook based) mapping issupported and how beamforming or MIMO precoding is performed istransparent to the UE. In UL, for the layers to antenna ports mapping,both the non-codebook based mapping and a codebook based mapping aresupported.

For each antenna port (i.e., layer) used for transmission of thephysical channel (e.g., PDSCH, PUSCH), the complex-valued modulationsymbols are mapped to subcarriers in resource blocks allocated to thephysical channel.

6) OFDM Modulation

The communication device at the transmitting side generates atime-continuous OFDM baseband signal on antenna port p and subcarrierspacing configuration u for OFDM symbol l in a TTI for a physicalchannel by adding a CP and performing inverse fast Fourier transform(IFFT). For example, for each OFDM symbol, the communication device atthe transmitting side may perform IFFT on the complex-valued modulationsymbols mapped to resource blocks in the corresponding OFDM symbol andadd a CP to the IFFT-ed signal to generate the OFDM baseband signal.

7) Up-Conversion

The communication device at the transmitting side up-convers the OFDMbaseband signal for antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration uand OFDM symbol l to a carrier frequency f₀ of a cell to which thephysical channel is assigned.

The processor 102, 202 in FIG. 2, the processor included in thecommunication unit 112 and/or the control unit 120 in FIG. 3, theprocessor 102, 202 in FIG. 4 and/or the processor 102 in FIG. 5 may beconfigured to perform encoding, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping,transform precoding (for UL), subcarrier mapping, and OFDM modulation.The processor 102, 202 in FIG. 2, the processor included in thecommunication unit 112 and/or the control unit 120 in FIG. 3, theprocessor 102, 202 in FIG. 4 and/or the processor 102 in FIG. 5 maycontrol the transceiver 106, 206 in FIG. 2, the transceiver 114 in FIG.3, the transceiver 106, 206 in FIG. 4 and/or the transceiver 106 in FIG.5 to up-convert the OFDM baseband signal onto the carrier frequency togenerate radio frequency (RF) signals. The radio frequency signals aretransmitted through antennas to an external device.

FIG. 13 shows an example of physical layer processing at a receivingside to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

The physical layer processing at the receiving side is basically theinverse processing of the physical layer processing at the transmittingside. Each step of FIG. 13 is described below in detail.

1) Frequency Down-Conversion

The communication device at a receiving side receives RF signals at acarrier frequency through antennas. The transceiver 106, 206 in FIG. 2,the transceiver 114 in FIG. 3, the transceiver 106, 206 in FIG. 4 and/orthe transceiver 106 in FIG. 5 receiving the RF signals at the carrierfrequency down-converts the carrier frequency of the RF signals into thebaseband in order to obtain OFDM baseband signals.

2) OFDM Demodulation

The communication device at the receiving side obtains complex-valuedmodulation symbols via CP detachment and FFT. For example, for each OFDMsymbol, the communication device at the receiving side removes a CP fromthe OFDM baseband signals and performs FFT on the CP-removed OFDMbaseband signals to obtain complex-valued modulation symbols for antennaport p, subcarrier spacing u and OFDM symbol l.

3) Subcarrier De-Mapping

The subcarrier de-mapping is performed on the complex-valued modulationsymbols to obtain complex-valued modulation symbols of a correspondingphysical channel. For example, the UE processor may obtaincomplex-valued modulation symbols mapped to subcarriers belong to PDSCHfrom among complex-valued modulation symbols received in a bandwidthpart.

4) Transform De-Precoding

Transform de-precoding (e.g., inverse DFT (IDFT)) is performed on thecomplex-valued modulation symbols of the uplink physical channel if thetransform precoding has been enabled for the uplink physical channel.For the downlink physical channel and for the uplink physical channelfor which the transform precoding has been disabled, the transformde-precoding is not performed.

5) Layer De-Mapping.

The complex-valued modulation symbols are de-mapped into one or twocodewords.

6) Demodulation and De-Scrambling

The complex-valued modulation symbols of a codeword are demodulated anddescrambled into bits of the codeword.

7) Decoding

The codeword is decoded into a transport block. For UL-SCH and DL-SCH,either LDPC base graph 1 or 2 is selected based on the size of thetransport block and coding rate R. The codeword may include one ormultiple coded blocks. Each coded block is decoded with the selectedLDPC base graph into a CRC-attached code block or CRC-attached transportblock. If code block segmentation was performed on a CRC-attachedtransport block at the transmitting side, a CRC sequence is removed fromeach of CRC-attached code blocks, whereby code blocks are obtained. Thecode blocks are concatenated into a CRC-attached transport block. Thetransport block CRC sequence is removed from the CRC-attached transportblock, whereby the transport block is obtained. The transport block isdelivered to the MAC layer.

In the above described physical layer processing at the transmitting andreceiving sides, the time and frequency domain resources (e.g., OFDMsymbol, subcarriers, carrier frequency) related to subcarrier mapping,OFDM modulation and frequency up/down conversion can be determined basedon the resource allocation (e.g., UL grant, DL assignment).

An RRC state indicates whether an RRC layer of the UE is logicallyconnected to an RRC layer of the E-UTRAN. In LTE/LTE-A, when the RRCconnection is established between the RRC layer of the UE and the RRClayer of the E-UTRAN, the UE is in the RRC connected state(RRC_CONNECTED). Otherwise, the UE is in the RRC idle state (RRC_IDLE).In NR, the RRC inactive state (RRC_INACTIVE) is additionally introduced.RRC_INACTIVE may be used for various purposes. For example, the massivemachine type communications (MMTC) UEs can be efficiently managed inRRC_INACTIVE. When a specific condition is satisfied, transition is madefrom one of the above three states to the other.

A predetermined operation may be performed according to the RRC state.In RRC_IDLE, public land mobile network (PLMN) selection, broadcast ofsystem information (SI), cell re-selection mobility, core network (CN)paging and discontinuous reception (DRX) configured by NAS may beperformed. The UE shall have been allocated an identifier (ID) whichuniquely identifies the UE in a tracking area. No RRC context stored inthe BS.

In RRC_CONNECTED, the UE has an RRC connection with the network (i.e.,E-UTRAN/NG-RAN). Network-CN connection (both C/U-planes) is alsoestablished for UE. The UE AS context is stored in the network and theUE. The RAN knows the cell which the UE belongs to. The network cantransmit and/or receive data to/from UE. Network controlled mobilityincluding measurement is also performed.

Most of operations performed in RRC_IDLE may be performed inRRC_INACTIVE. But, instead of CN paging in RRC_IDLE, RAN paging isperformed in RRC_INACTIVE. In other words, in RRC_IDLE, paging formobile terminated (MT) data is initiated by core network and paging areais managed by core network. In RRC_INACTIVE, paging is initiated byNG-RAN, and RAN-based notification area (RNA) is managed by NG-RAN.Further, instead of DRX for CN paging configured by NAS in RRC_IDLE, DRXfor RAN paging is configured by NG-RAN in RRC_INACTIVE. Meanwhile, inRRC_INACTIVE, 5GC-NG-RAN connection (both C/U-planes) is established forUE, and the UE AS context is stored in NG-RAN and the UE. NG-RAN knowsthe RNA which the UE belongs to.

Support of low complexity UEs is described. Section 23.7 of 3GPP TS36.300 V15.5.0 (2019 March) can be referred.

Low complexity UEs are targeted to low-end (e.g., low average revenueper user, low data rate, delay tolerant) applications, e.g., somemachine-type communications.

A low complexity UE has reduced Tx and Rx capabilities compared to otherUE of different categories.

A category 0 low complexity UE may access a cell only if SIB1 indicatesthat access of category 0 UEs is supported. If the cell does not supportaccess of category 0 UEs, the UE considers the cell as barred.

The eNB determines that a UE is a category 0 UE based on the LCID forCCCH and the UE capability.

The S1 signaling has been extended to include the UE radio capabilityfor paging. This paging specific capability information is provided bythe eNB to the mobility management entity (MME), and the MME uses thisinformation to indicate to the eNB that the paging request from the MMEconcerns a low complexity UE.

Support of bandwidth reduced low complexity (BL) UEs is described.Section 23.7a of 3GPP TS 36.300 V15.5.0 (2019 March) can be referred.

A BL UE can operate in any LTE system bandwidth but with a limitedchannel bandwidth of 6 PRBs (corresponding to the maximum channelbandwidth available in a 1.4 MHz LTE system) in downlink and uplink.

To enable higher data rates, a BL UE can optionally support a largermaximum PDSCH/PUSCH channel bandwidth of 24 PRBs in downlink and anon-BL UE operating in enhanced coverage can optionally support a largermaximum PDSCH/PUSCH channel bandwidth of 24 or 96 PRBs in downlink, and24 PRBs in uplink in connected mode for unicast transmission.

Table 13 summarizes the maximum PDSCH/PUSCH bandwidth in connected modefor unicast transmission depending on the UE category and enhancedcoverage mode. The maximum PDSCH/PUSCH channel bandwidth is configuredseparately for PDSCH and PUSCH via dedicated RRC signaling.

TABLE 13 UE category/CE mode CE mode A CE mode B BL (Category M1) 6/6 6/6 BL (Category M2) 24/24 24/6 Non-BL (Category 0 and higher) 96 (or24)/24 96 (or 24)/6

A category M2 BL UE supports a larger DL and UL maximum transport blocksize (TBS) for unicast compared to a category M1 BL UE. A category M1 BLUE may support a larger UL maximum TBS size indicated by a separate UEcapability.

A BL UE may access a cell only if the master information block (MIB) ofthe cell indicates that scheduling information for SIB1 specific for BLUEs is scheduled. If not, the UE considers the cell as barred.

A BL UE receives a separate occurrence of system information blocks(sent using different time/frequency resources). A BL UE has a TBSlimited to 1000 bit for broadcast. The BL UE determines the schedulinginformation for SIB1 specific for BL UEs based on information in MIB.Scheduling information for other SIBs is given in SIB1 specific for BLUEs. The BCCH modification period for BL UEs is a multiple of the BCCHmodification period provided in SIB2. The SIB transmission occasionswithin an SI-window are provided in the SIB1 specific for BL UEs. A BLUE can acquire SI messages across SI windows. The maximum number of SImessages that can be acquired across SI windows is 4. A BL UE is notrequired to detect SIB change when in RRC_CONNECTED.

A BL UE is paged based on paging occasions in time domain, and pagingnarrowbands in frequency domain. The starting subframe of a pagingoccasion is determined in the same way as the paging occasion in thelegacy paging mechanism.

A set of PRACH resources (e.g., time, frequency, preamble), eachassociated with BL UEs in normal coverage, is provided in SIB. Number ofPRACH repetitions and number of maximum preamble transmission attemptsfor BL UEs in normal coverage are provided in SIB. Time/frequencyresources and repetition factor for random access response messages forBL UEs are derived from the used PRACH resources.

Support of UEs in enhanced coverage is described. Section 23.7b of 3GPPTS 36.300 V15.5.0 (2019 March) can be referred.

A UE in enhanced coverage is a UE that requires the use of enhancedcoverage functionality to access the cell. Two enhanced coverage modes(mode A, mode B) are supported. The support of enhanced coverage mode Ais mandatory for a BL UE. The maximum PDSCH/PUSCH bandwidth in connectedmode for unicast transmission depends on the UE category and enhancedcoverage mode as summarized in Table 13 mentioned above.

A UE may access a cell using enhanced coverage functionality only if theMIB of the cell indicates that scheduling information for SIB1 specificfor BL UEs is scheduled. System information procedures for UEs inenhanced coverage are identical to the system information procedures forBL UEs. A UE capable of enhanced coverage acquires, if needed, and useslegacy system information when in normal coverage if it is not a BL UE.A UE capable of enhanced coverage acquires, if needed, and uses systeminformation specific for UEs in enhanced coverage. A UE in enhancedcoverage is not required to detect SIB change when in RRC_CONNECTED.

A set of PRACH resources (e.g., time, frequency, preamble), eachassociated with a coverage enhancement level, is provided in SIB. Numberof PRACH repetitions and number of maximum preamble transmissionattempts per coverage enhancement level are provided in SIB. UEs in sameenhanced coverage level use random access resources associated with thesame enhanced coverage level. Time/frequency resources and repetitionfactor for random access response messages for UEs in enhanced coverageare derived from the used PRACH resources.

A UE in enhanced coverage is paged using the same mechanism for pagingBL UEs. The starting subframe of a paging occasion and the repetitionpattern (in both time and frequency domain for downlink common controlsignaling) of that paging occasion are determined irrespective of theUEs enhanced coverage level.

The paging request from the MME for a UE supporting enhanced coveragefunctionality may contain enhanced coverage level related informationand corresponding cell ID. If neither the UE Radio Capability for Paginginformation element (IE) nor the Assistance Data for Paging IE isincluded in the paging request from the MME, the eNB may need to pagethe UE in both PDCCH and MPDCCH.

A UE in RRC_IDLE does not inform the network when it changes theenhanced coverage level.

A UE in enhanced coverage camps on a suitable cell where S criterion forUEs in enhanced coverage is fulfilled. The UE shall re-select tointer-frequency cells in which it is able to operate in normal coverageover cells in which it has to be in enhanced coverage.

Connected mode mobility mechanisms such as measurement reporting,network controlled handover, etc., are supported for UEs in enhancedcoverage. At handover from a source cell in normal or enhanced coveragemode to a target cell in enhanced coverage mode, the network may provideSIB1-BR to the UE in the handover command. No additional mechanisms areintroduced to support the use of enhanced coverage functionality toaccess an E-UTRA cell during inter-RAT handovers.

Reconfiguration of a UE in connected mode from normal to enhancedcoverage mode (and vice versa) is supported by a means of intra-cellhandover or RRC configuration without handover.

Narrowband internet-of-things (NB-IoT) is described. Sections 4.10,5.1.1a, 5.2.1a and 5.2.5a of 3GPP TS 36.300 V15.5.0 (2019 March) can bereferred.

NB-IoT provides access to network services using physical layeroptimized for very low power consumption (e.g., full carrier bandwidthis 180 kHz, subcarrier spacing can be 3.75 kHz or 15 kHz).

A number of E-UTRA protocol functions supported by all Rel-8 UEs are notused for NB-IoT and need not be supported by eNBs and UEs only usingNB-IoT.

The downlink transmission scheme for NB-IoT is based on conventionalOFDM using a CP. In the frequency domain, there is one resource blockfor an NB-IoT carrier, the OFDM sub-carrier spacing Df=15 kHz always,and in case of frequency division duplex (FDD), only operation with halfduplex from NB-IoT UE point of view is supported. There can be more thanone NB-IoT carrier configured.

For NB-IoT uplink transmission, both single-tone transmission andmulti-tone transmission are defined.

For single-tone transmission, there are two numerologies defined: 3.75kHz and 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, based on single-carrier FDMA. In thefrequency domain, resource blocks are not defined. If the uplinksubcarrier spacing Df=15 kHz, there are 12 consecutive subcarriers. Ifthe uplink subcarrier spacing Df=3.75 kHz, there are 48 consecutivesub-carriers.

Single-tone transmission with 3.75 kHz subcarrier spacing is organizedinto slots with 2 ms duration, each of which consists of seven symbolslocated from beginning of the slot. The slot boundary is aligned withsubframe boundaries of frame structure type 1. One symbol of 3.75 kHzsubcarrier spacing consists of 8448 Ts of symbol with CP length of 256Ts. The remaining time (2304 Ts) of the slot is used as a guard period.

Multi-tone transmission is based on single-carrier FDMA, with thatresource blocks are not defined. There are 12 consecutive uplinksubcarriers with uplink subcarrier spacing Df=15 kHz. The subcarrierscan be grouped into sets of 3, 6, or 12 consecutive subcarriers.

A resource unit, schedulable for single-tone NB-Iot PUSCH (NPUSCH) withUL-SCH transmission, is defined as a single 3.75 kHz subcarrier for 32ms or a single 15 kHz subcarrier for 8 ms. A resource unit, schedulablefor multi-tone NPUSCH with UL-SCH transmission is defined as 3subcarriers for 4 ms; or 6 subcarriers for 2 ms; or 12 subcarriers for 1ms. A resource unit, schedulable for NPUSCH with ACK/NAK transmission,is defined as a single 3.75 kHz subcarrier for 8 ms or a single 15 kHzsubcarrier for 2 ms.

A UL-SCH transport block can be scheduled over one or more than oneresource unit in time.

The physical layer random access transmission uses a 3.75 kHz or 1.25kHz subcarrier spacing and consists of symbol groups with frequencyhopping between symbol groups. Each symbol group has a CP and apreamble. Symbol groups with 3.75 kHz subcarrier spacing hop by one orsix subcarriers in frequency, and symbol groups with 1.25 kHz subcarrierspacing hop by one, three, or eighteen subcarriers in frequency.Repetitions of groups of symbol groups hop by a pseudo-random number ofsubcarriers in frequency. There are two in FDD, and four in timedivision duplex (TDD), possible CP lengths for the random accesstransmission symbol groups, suitable for different maximum cell sizes.

UE may perform data transmission and/or reception while in RRC_IDLE orRRC_INACTIVE. Considering MTC UE (e.g., BL UE or UE in enhancedcoverage), NB-IoT UE, and/or UE supporting 5G NR, UE may perform datatransmission and/or reception while in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE in a PRB(for NB-IoT UE), in a narrowband (e.g., 6 PRBs for MTC UE), and/or in aBWP (for UE supporting 5G NR). That is, UE may perform data transmissionand/or reception while in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE only in part of asystem bandwidth.

Paging may indicate upcoming data transmission in RRC_IDLE and/orRRC_INACTIVE. However, when UE receives paging indicating datatransmission in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE, UE may not know on which PRB,narrowband and/or a BWP data transmission will occur. Thus, UE may missdata transmission triggered by paging.

The following drawings are created to explain specific embodiments ofthe present disclosure. The names of the specific devices or the namesof the specific signals/messages/fields shown in the drawings areprovided by way of example, and thus the technical features of thepresent disclosure are not limited to the specific names used in thefollowing drawings.

In some implementations, the method in perspective of the wirelessdevice described below may be performed by first wireless device 100shown in FIG. 2, the wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 3, the firstwireless device 100 shown in FIG. 4 and/or the UE 100 shown in FIG. 5.

In some implementations, the method in perspective of the wirelessdevice described below may be performed by control of the processor 102included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2, by control ofthe communication unit 110 and/or the control unit 120 included in thewireless device 100 shown in FIG. 3, by control of the processor 102included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 4 and/or bycontrol of the processor 102 included in the UE 100 shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a method for a wireless device to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

In some implementations, the wireless device may be in communicationwith at least one of a mobile device, a network, and/or autonomousvehicles other than the wireless device.

In step S1400, the wireless device receives, from a network, systeminformation including a list of PRBs.

In step S1410, the wireless device, while in an idle state (e.g.,RRC_IDLE) and/or an inactive state (RRC_INACTIVE), monitors a pagingincluding information indicating at least one PRB from the list of thePRBs, and communicates with the network based on the at least one PRB.

In some implementations, the list of PRBs may include a list ofnarrowbands, and the at least one PRB may include at least onenarrowband from the list of narrowbands.

In some implementations, the list of PRBs may include a list of BWPs,and the at least one PRB may include at least one BWP from the list ofBWPs.

In some implementations, communicating with the network based on theleast one PRB may include monitoring PDCCH on the at least one PRB, andreceiving, from the network, PDSCH carrying a downlink data scheduled bythe PDCCH.

In some implementations, the PDCCH may be addressed to a certain RNTI.The certain RNTI may include a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) and/or a random accessRNTI (RA-RNTI). Or, the certain RNTI may be calculated based on acertain number received via the paging and ID of the wireless device.

In some implementations, the system information may further include alist of PUCCH resources, and the paging may further include informationon a PUCCH resource index. The wireless device may select a PUCCHresource from the list of PUCCH resources based on the PUCCH resourceindex. The wireless device may transmitting, to the network, a HARQfeedback in response to the downlink data based on the PUCCH resource.The HARQ feedback may include at least one of a channel qualityindicator (CQI), channel state information (CSI), information on uplinkdata volume, and/or an uplink buffer size. The PUCCH resource mayinclude one of at least one PRB, at least one narrowband, and/or atleast one BWP.

In some implementations, communicating with the network based on theleast one PRB may include transmitting, to the network, a random accesspreamble on the at least one PRB.

FIG. 15 shows an example of a method for performing data transmissionfor a UE in RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE to which implementations of thepresent disclosure is applied.

In step S1500, the UE receives system information including informationon a list of DL frequency bands.

In step S1510, the UE receives paging including information on DLfrequency band (e.g., DL frequency band index) for upcoming datatransmission.

In some implementations, the DL frequency band may correspond to atleast one of a PRB (for NB-IOT UE), a narrowband (e.g., 6 PRBs for MTCUE), and/or a BWP (for UE supporting 5G NR).

In some implementations, the DL frequency band index may indicate oneconfiguration related to a DL frequency band from the list of DLfrequency bands.

For example, for NB-IoT UE, the paging may include information on aparticular PRB as the information on the DL frequency band. Theinformation on the particular PRB may include a particular PRB index.The particular PRB index may be matched with a PRB configurationindicated by the system information.

For example, for MTC UE, the paging may include information on aparticular narrowband as the information on the DL frequency band. Theinformation on the particular narrowband may include a particularnarrowband index. The particular narrowband index may be matched with anarrowband configuration indicated by the system information.

For example, for UE supporting 5G NR, the paging may include informationon a particular BWP as the information on the DL frequency band. Theinformation on the particular BWP may include a particular BWP index.The particular BWP index may be matched with a BWP configurationindicated by the system information.

In some implementations, the UE may select a UL frequency band based onthe received information on the DL frequency band. Then, the UE mayselect and transmit a RACH preamble on the selected UL frequency band.

In step S1520, the UE selects a DL frequency band from the list of DLfrequency bands based on the information on the DL frequency band (e.g.,the DL frequency band index).

In step S1530, the UE monitors a PDCCH on the selected DL frequencyband.

In some implementations, the PDCCH may be addressed to a certain RNTI.For example, the certain RNTI may include C-RNTI and/or RA-RNTI.Alternatively, the certain RNTI may be calculated based on a certainnumber received via the paging and UE ID. For example, the certain RNTImay be calculated by the Equation (UE ID×the certain number) mod M,where M is the maximum number of RNTI configured for this purpose.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band which is matchedwith the DL frequency band on which the system information and/or thepaging is received.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band which is matchedwith the UL frequency band on which the RACH preamble was transmitted.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band based on UE ID.

In step S1540, upon receiving the PDCCH, the UE receives PDSCH carryingDL data.

In some implementations, the PDSCH may be received in a DL frequencyband. The DL frequency band may be indicated by the PDCCH.Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band which is matchedwith the DL frequency band on which the system information and/or thepaging is received. Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequencyband which is matched with the UL frequency band on which the RACHpreamble was transmitted. Alternatively, the UE may select the DLfrequency band based on UE ID.

In some implementations, upon receiving the PDSCH, the UE sends HARQfeedback to the network.

FIG. 16 shows another example of a method for performing datatransmission for a UE in RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

In step S1600, the UE receives system information including informationon a list of PUCCH resources.

In step S1610, the UE receives paging indicating upcoming DLtransmission.

In some implementations, the paging may include a PDCCH addressed topaging RNTI (P-RNTI) and/or a paging message carried on a PDSCH.

In step S1620, the UE receives information on a PUCCH resource index.

In some implementations, the information on the PUCCH resource index maybe received via the paging. Or, the information on the PUCCH resourceindex may be received via PDCCH and/or MAC PDU.

In some implementations, the UE may select a RACH preamble resource anda random access preamble ID (RAPID). Then, the UE may transmit the RACHpreamble on a UL frequency band by using the selected RACH preambleresource and the selected RAPID.

In step S1630, the UE monitors the PDCCH and upon receiving the PDCCH,receives PDSCH carrying a MAC PDU.

In some implementations, the PDCCH may be addressed to a certain RNTI.The certain RNTI may include C-RNTI and/or RA-RNTI.

In step S1640, the UE selects a PUCCH resource from the list of PUCCHresources based on the PUCCH resource index. In other words, the UEconfigures PUCCH by using the received information on the PUCCH resourceindex.

In some implementations, the PUCCH resource may include one of at leastone PRB, at least one narrowband, and/or at least one BWP.

Alternatively, the PUCCH resource may be associated with at least one ofthe UL frequency band, the selected RACH preamble resource and/or theselected RAPID.

In step S1650, the UE sends HARQ feedback for the MAC PDU in ULtransmission by using the PUCCH resource.

In some implementations, the UL transmission may also include CQI orCSI. The UL transmission may also include information on UL data volumeand/or UL buffer size.

In some implementations, if the UE fails to receive the PDCCH within atime window configured by the base station, the UE may transmit a RACHpreamble with a power ramping instead of transmitting the HARQ feedback.

FIG. 17 shows an example of downlink data transmissions for a UE inRRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE to which implementations of the presentdisclosure is applied.

In some implementations, the example shown in FIG. 17 may be applied toa particular DL transmission scheme. For example, the particular DLtransmission scheme may include DL early data transmission (EDT).

In some implementations, in the example shown in FIG. 17, the frequencyband may correspond to at least one of a PRB (for NB-IoT UE), anarrowband (e.g., 6 PRBs for MTC UE), and/or a BWP (for UE supporting 5GNR).

In some implementations, in the example shown in FIG. 17, the basestation may include eNB (for 4G LTE) and/or gNB (for 5G NR).

In step S1700, the UE camps on a cell. In the cell, the UE acquiressystem information from the base station. The system information mayinclude at least one of the following information for a particular DLtransmission scheme.

-   -   Whether DL transmission is available in RRC_IDLE or not    -   Whether DL transmission is available in RRC_INACTIVE or not.    -   A list of DL frequency bands available for DL transmission in        RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE    -   A list of UL frequency bands available for DL transmission in        RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE    -   A list of PUCCH resources used for the particular DL        transmission scheme

In step S1702, the UE receives a paging from the base station.

In some implementations, the paging may be a PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI(e.g., paging indicator) and/or a paging message carried on a PDSCH.

In some implementations, the paging may include RACH preambleinformation. For example, the RACH preamble information may include RACHresources for upcoming data transmission. The RACH preamble informationmay include one or more RACH time resources, one or more RACH frequencyresources, and/or one or more RAPIDs.

In some implementations, the paging may include an indication on the DLtransmission in RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE. For example, the pagingmay include information on an amount of DL data to be transmitted inRRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE.

In some implementations, the paging may include UL timing advance (TA)information and/or PUCCH resource information. The PUCCH resourceinformation may indicate one PUCCH resource from the list of PUCCHresources included in the system information.

In some implementations, the paging may include information on frequencybands (e.g., frequency band index) for upcoming data transmission.Specifically, the base station may select one or more frequency bandsfrom the list of frequency bands indicated by the system information andthen may include the selected frequency bands in the paging. Theselected frequency bands included in the paging may be only UL frequencybands, only DL frequency bands, and/or both UL frequency bands and DLfrequency bands. The frequency band index may indicate one configurationrelated to a DL/UL frequency band from the list of DL/UL frequencybands.

For example, for NB-IoT UE, the paging may include information on one ormore particular PRB as the information on the frequency band. Theinformation on the one or more particular PRB may include a particularPRB index. The particular PRB index may be matched with a PRBconfiguration indicated by the system information.

For example, for MTC UE, the paging may include information on one ormore particular narrowband as the information on the frequency band. Theinformation on the one or more particular narrowband may include aparticular narrowband index. The particular narrowband index may bematched with a narrowband configuration indicated by the systeminformation.

For example, for UE supporting 5G NR, the paging may include informationon one or more particular BWP as the information on the frequency band.The information on the one or more particular BWP may include aparticular BWP index. The particular BWP index may be matched with a BWPconfiguration indicated by the system information.

In some implementations, the paging may include information one or morebeams, e.g., one or more beam indexes such as SS/PBCH block (SSB) indexand/or CSI-RS index.

In step S1704, the UE selects a UL frequency band based on theinformation on the frequency bands received via the paging and/or thelist of frequency bands received via the system information.

In some implementations, if the information on the frequency bandindicates one UL frequency band, the UE may select the one UL frequencyband indicated by the information. In some implementations, if theinformation on the frequency band indicates more than one UL frequencybands, the UE may select one UL frequency band from the more than one ULfrequency bands. The one UL frequency band may be selected from the morethan one UL frequency bands based on at least one of random selection,the amount of DL data to be transmitted in RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE,UE ID (such as SAE-temporary mobile subscriber identity (S-TMSI) and/orinternational mobile subscriber identity (IMSI)) and/or measurementresult (such as reference signal received power (RSRP) and/or referencesignal received quality (RSRQ)).

In some implementations, the UE may select a RACH resource based on theRACH preamble information received via the paging. For example, the UEmay select one of the RACH time resources, one of the RACH frequencyresources and/or one of RAPIDs based on at least one of randomselection, the amount of DL data to be transmitted in RRC_IDLE and/orRRC_INACTIVE, UE ID (such as S-TMSI and/or IMSI) and/or measurementresult (such as RSRP and/or RSRQ).

In step S1706, the UE selects and transmits a RACH preamble by using theselected RACH time/frequency resource and/or the selected RAPID on theselected UL frequency band. In step S1706, the UE transmits a first RACHpreamble on the selected UL frequency band.

In some implementations, if the paging may include information one ormore beams, e.g., one or more beam indexes such as SS/PBCH block (SSB)index and/or CSI-RS index, the UE may select at least one beam of whichmeasured quality is above a threshold among the one or more beams. Then,the UE may perform contention free random access procedure with theselected beam. If there is no beam of which measured quality is above athreshold, the UE may perform contention based random access procedureby selecting a beam other than the one or more beams.

In some implementations, the UE may determine the RACH time/frequencyresource and/or the RAPID based on the UE ID from the RACHtime/frequency resources and/or RAPIDs received via the paging.

In some implementations, if the UE receives a certain number via thepaging, the UE may determine the RACH time/frequency resource and/or theRAPID based on the UE ID and the certain number. For example, the RAPIDmay be calculated by the Equation (UE ID×the certain number) mod N,where N is the maximum number of RAPIDs configured for this purpose.

In step S1708, upon receiving the RACH preamble, the base stationselects a DL frequency band from the list of DL frequency bandsindicated by the system information.

In some implementations, the base station may select a DL frequency bandfrom the list of DL frequency bands based on at least one of at leastone of random selection, the amount of DL data to be transmitted inRRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE, UE ID (such as S-TMSI and/or IMSI), RACHpreamble resource on which the RACH preamble was received, the receivedRAPID, and/or path loss indicated by the RACH preamble.

In some implementations, the UE may select a DL frequency band based onthe information on the frequency bands received via the paging from thelist of DL frequency bands indicated by the system information. If theinformation on the frequency band indicates more than one DL frequencybands, the UE may select one DL frequency band from the more than one DLfrequency bands. The one DL frequency band may be selected from the morethan one DL frequency bands based on at least one of random selection,the amount of DL data to be transmitted in RRC_IDLE and/or RRC_INACTIVE,the transmitted RAPID, UE ID (such as S-TMSI and/or IMSI) and/ormeasurement result (such as RSRP and/or RSRQ).

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band which is matchedwith the DL frequency band on which the system information and/or thepaging is received.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band which is matchedwith the UL frequency band on which the RACH preamble was transmitted.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band based on UE ID.

In step S1710, the base station transmits PDCCH on the selected DLfrequency band. After transmitting the RACH preamble, the UE may monitorthe PDCCH on the selected DL frequency band.

In some implementations, the PDCCH may be addressed to a certain RNTI.For example, the certain RNTI may include C-RNTI and/or RA-RNTI.Alternatively, the certain RNTI may be calculated based on a certainnumber received via the paging and UE ID. For example, the certain RNTImay be calculated by the Equation (UE ID×the certain number) mod M,where M is the maximum number of RNTI configured for this purpose.

In step S1712, the base station transmits PDSCH carrying a MAC PDU basedon the PDCCH.

In some implementations, the PDSCH may be transmitted on the DLfrequency band selected based on the PDCCH. Alternatively, the PDSCH maybe transmitted on the DL frequency band where the PDCCH is transmitted.

In some implementations, the MAC PDU may include at least a LCID of alogical channel (e.g., a DCCH or a DTCH), and/or a MAC SDU from thelogical channel.

In some implementations, the MAC PDU may also include UL TA informationin a header of the MAC PDU and/or in a MAC control element (CE) includedin the MAC PDU.

In some implementations, the base station may also include a PUCCHresource information in the PDCCH, in a header of the MAC PDU and/or ina MAC CE in the MAC PDU. The PUCCH resource information may indicate onePUCCH resource from the list of PUCCH resources included in the systeminformation.

In step S1714, the UE may fail to receive the PDCCH and so also fail toreceive the PDSCH. Thus, the UE transmits a second RACH preamble on theselected UL frequency band again.

In step S1716, the UE receives the PDCCH addressed to a certain RNTI onthe selected DL frequency band.

If the UE receives the PDCCH, the UE may receive the PDSCH carrying theMAC PDU on the DL frequency band selected based on the PDCCH. The DLfrequency band may be indicated by the PDCCH. Alternatively, the DLfrequency band may be same as the DL frequency band where the PDCCH wasreceived.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band which is matchedwith the DL frequency band on which the system information and/or thepaging is received.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band which is matchedwith the UL frequency band on which the RACH preamble was transmitted.

Alternatively, the UE may select the DL frequency band based on UE ID.

In some implementations, for user plane evolved packet system (EPS)optimization, upon reception of the paging, transmission of the RACHpreamble and/or reception of the PDCCH addressed to the certain RNTI,the UE may resume a suspended DRB which is configured with theparticular DL transmission mode.

In some implementations, for HARQ feedback, the UE may select a ULfrequency band based on at least one of the information on the ULfrequency band received via the paging and/or the list of UL frequencybands received via the system information.

In some implementations, if the information on the UL frequency bandindicates one UL frequency band, the UE may select the one UL frequencyband indicated by the information. In some implementations, if theinformation on the UL frequency band indicates more than one ULfrequency bands, the UE may select one UL frequency band from the morethan one UL frequency bands. The one UL frequency band may be selectedfrom the more than one UL frequency bands based on at least one ofrandom selection, the amount of DL data to be transmitted in RRC_IDLEand/or RRC_INACTIVE, UE ID (such as S-TMSI and/or IMSI) and/ormeasurement result (such as RSRP and/or RSRQ).

In some implementations, the selected UL frequency band may be same asthe UL frequency band where the RACH preamble was transmitted. Or, theselected UL frequency band may be indicated by at least one of thepaging, the PDCCH and/or the PDSCH.

Upon receiving the PDSCH, the UE may send HARQ feedback in the selectedUL frequency band by using a PUCCH resource. The PUCCH resource may beindicated by at least one of the system information, paging, PDCCHand/or the PDSCH, as mentioned in the previous steps. Alternatively, thePUCCH resource may be associated with the selected RACH preambleresource and/or the selected RAPID.

In step S1718, the UE fails to decode the MAC PDU received on the PDSCH.

In step S1720, the UE transmits HARQ NACK by using the PUCCH resource tothe base station.

Alternatively, if the UE successfully decodes the MAC PDU received onthe PDSCH, the UE may transmit HARQ ACK by using the PUCCH resource tothe base station.

In some implementations, the base station may request report of themeasurement result to the UE via at least one of the system information,paging, PDCCH and/or PDSCH. If requested by the base station, the UE maymeasure a DL channel quality after reception of the paging. If requestedby the base station, the UE may indicate the measurement result (e.g.,CQI, CSI) on the PUCCH, possibly together with HARQ ACK/NACK.

In step S1722, the UE starts (or restarts) a timer. The UE may start (orrestart) a timer upon PDCCH reception, PDSCH reception, PUCCHtransmission or HARQ ACK/NACK transmission.

In step S1724, the UE transmits Nth RACH preamble on the selected ULfrequency band again.

In step S1726, the UE receives the PDCCH addressed to a certain RNTI onthe selected DL frequency band.

In step S1728, the UE receives the PDSDH based on the PDCCH, andsuccessfully decodes the MAC PDU received on the PDSCH.

In step S1730, the UE transmits HARQ ACK by using the PUCCH resource tothe base station.

In some implementations, if the UE has no data available for uplinktransmission and the base station allows the UE to perform uplinktransmission with the particular DL transmission mode, the UE mayindicate zero data volume and/or L2 buffer size set to zero via thePUCCH. In this case, the UE may immediately stop the particular DLtransmission mode.

In some implementations, if the UE has data available for uplinktransmission and the base station allows the UE to perform uplinktransmission with the particular DL transmission mode, the UE mayindicate available data such as data volume and/or L2 buffer size on thePUCCH. Then, upon receiving UL grant from the base station, the UE mayperform uplink transmission of a MAC PDU by using the uplink grant. TheUE may perform uplink transmission for retransmission of the MAC PDU.

In step S1732, the UE restarts the timer. The UE may restart the timerupon indicating zero data volume and/or L2 buffer size set to zeroand/or upon uplink transmission for retransmission of the MAC PDU byusing uplink grant.

In step S1734, the timer expires. Upon expiry of the timer, the UE stopsthe particular DL transmission mode.

Alternatively, after HARQ ACK transmission, after the maximum number ofHARQ retransmission is indicated on the PDCCH, and/or if the PDCCHindicates stop of the particular DL transmission mode, the UE may stopthe particular DL transmission mode. Or, if the UE receives additionalpaging indicating stop of the particular DL transmission mode, the UEmay stop the particular DL transmission mode.

In some implementations, upon expiry of the timer, the PUCCH resourcemay be released.

The present disclosure can have various advantageous effects.

For example, data transmission can be performed efficiently while the UEis in an idle state (e.g., RRC_IDLE) and/or an inactive state (e.g.,RRC_INACTIVE).

For example, one UE performing DL data reception by using paging canproperly determine a frequency band where DL data is transmitted, inparticular when a cell consists of multiple DL frequency bands.

For example, the system can transmit DL data for a UE performing DL datareception based on paging from a DL frequency band after leavingconnected state, e.g., in an idle mode and/or an inactive state.

For example, one UE performing DL data reception by using paging canproperly send feedback on UL resource to reception of DL data, inparticular when connection between the UE and the network isdisconnected and/or suspended.

For example, the system can properly determine whether or not to performretransmission of DL data for a UE performing DL data reception based onpaging after leaving connected mode, e.g., in an idle mode and/or aninactive state.

Advantageous effects which can be obtained through specific embodimentsof the present disclosure are not limited to the advantageous effectslisted above. For example, there may be a variety of technical effectsthat a person having ordinary skill in the related art can understandand/or derive from the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specificeffects of the present disclosure are not limited to those explicitlydescribed herein, but may include various effects that may be understoodor derived from the technical features of the present disclosure.

Claims in the present disclosure can be combined in a various way. Forinstance, technical features in method claims of the present disclosurecan be combined to be implemented or performed in an apparatus, andtechnical features in apparatus claims can be combined to be implementedor performed in a method. Further, technical features in method claim(s)and apparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed inan apparatus. Further, technical features in method claim(s) andapparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed in amethod. Other implementations are within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for a wireless device in a wirelesscommunication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a network,system information including a list of physical resource blocks (PRBs);while in an idle state and/or an inactive state: monitoring a pagingincluding information indicating at least one PRB from the list of thePRBs; and communicating with the network based on the at least one PRB.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of PRBs includes a list ofnarrowbands, and wherein the at least one PRB includes at least onenarrowband from the list of narrowbands.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the list of PRBs includes a list of bandwidth parts (BWPs), andwherein the at least one PRB includes at least one BWP from the list ofBWPs.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating with the networkbased on the least one PRB comprises: monitoring a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) on the at least one PRB; and receiving, from thenetwork, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying a downlinkdata scheduled by the PDCCH.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the PDCCHis addressed to a certain radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the certain RNTI includes a cell RNTI(C-RNTI) and/or a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI).
 7. The method of claim5, wherein the certain RNTI is calculated based on a certain numberreceived via the paging and an identifier (ID) of the wireless device.8. The method of claim 4, wherein the system information furtherincludes a list of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources,and wherein the paging further includes information on a PUCCH resourceindex.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising selecting a PUCCHresource from the list of PUCCH resources based on the PUCCH resourceindex.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting, tothe network, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback inresponse to the downlink data based on the PUCCH resource.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the HARQ feedback includes at least one of achannel quality indicator (CQI), channel state information (CSI),information on uplink data volume, and/or an uplink buffer size.
 12. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the PUCCH resource includes one of at leastone PRB, at least one narrowband, and/or at least one BWP.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein communicating with the network based on theleast one PRB comprises: transmitting, to the network, a random accesspreamble on the at least one PRB.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein thewireless device is in communication with at least one of a mobiledevice, a network, and/or autonomous vehicles other than the wirelessdevice.
 15. A wireless device in a wireless communication system, thewireless device comprising: at least one transceiver; at leastprocessor; and at least one computer memory operably connectable to theat least one processor and storing instructions that, based on beingexecuted by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising:receiving, from a network, system information including a list ofphysical resource blocks (PRBs); while in an idle state and/or aninactive state: monitoring, from the network, a paging includinginformation indicating at least one PRB from the list of the PRBs; andcommunicating with the network based on the at least one PRB.